MARINERS SURGICAL UPDATES
Three Mariners hurlers had surgery recently.
Steve Cishek had a labrum procedure on his right hip. The recovery for such a procedure is 4-6 months meaning he could begin the 2017 campaign on the shelf. Cishek, a 30 year old righty sidewinder, posted a strong 2.81 ERA and 1.02 WHIP last season. He did blow seven save chances but he also saved 25 games and added nine holds as he struck out 10.69 batters per nine. He also posted a solid 2.95 BB/9 rate, below his 3.34 career mark, but that came with a 44 percent ground ball rate that was the second worst mark of his career. Given that he is unlikely to be healthy for the start of next season he should not be viewed, as of this writing, as a legit closing candidate for the Mariners.
Taijuan Walker had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle to remove a bone fragment. He should be 100 percent well before Spring Training begins. A big fan of Walker is this scribe. A gifted 6’4” 24 year old righty, Walker suffered many ups and downs in 2016. Ultimately he reversed his 11-8 record from 2015 going 8-11, though he did drop his ERA (4.22) and virtually matched his WHIP (1.20) from the previous season (1.24). Here’s what you need to know. (1) He strikes guys out with a 8.12 K/9 rate for his young career. (2) He doesn’t walk many with a strong 2.50 BB/9 rate. (3) His career WHIP, over 357 frames, is a solid 1.21. (4) His career GB/FB ratio of 1.11 is average. The issue for him is the long ball. Walker has allowed a HR/9 rate of 1.36 for his career, and the rate was laughably high at 1.81 in 2016. When his 17.6 percent HR/F ratio normalizes, his mark in the just completed season, his homer rate will fall and with it his ERA should improve. Buy at a discount next season. This is an impressive arm.
Tony Zych had right shoulder biceps tendon transfer surgery. He should be ready for the start of Spring Training. Zych missed a good deal of time during the season with a rotator issue, but the good news is that the rotator cuff did not need a repair. Zych, a right reliever, has appeared in 25 games at the big league level with an impressive K-rate of 12.66. He walked 10 batters in 13.2 innings in 2016, but with a healthy arm he could dominate in a setup role next season.
KURODA HANGING THEM UP
Hiroki Kuroda is 41 years old and still pitching in Japan. As a 40 year old last season he went 11-8 with a 2.55 ERA. The righty is pitching in the Japan Series right now after a 3.09 ERA and 10 wins over 151.2 innings in his age 41 season. He will finally retire at the end of the season.
DID YOU KNOW…
Cole Hamels had an 8.97 K/9 rate in 2016. That was higher than Jon Lester at 8.75.
Ricky Nolasco walked 2.00 batters per nine. That was lower than the 2.08 mark of Kyle Hendricks.
Ervin Santana allowed 0.94 homers per nine innings. Masahiro Tanaka was at 0.99.
Martin Perez had a 52.3 ground ball rate. Noah Syndergaard was at 51.2 percent of his batted balls.
Robbie Ray had a 3.45 xFIP. Madison Bumgarner was at 3.54.
PLAYOFF NOTES
Trevor Bauer’s injured finger was a disaster. I would post pictures here but I don’t want people to vomit. For real. Here are a couple of looks at his injured finger. It was ugly. Picture 1 and Picture 2 (which is actually a short video). As I wrote about Monday in this piece, the quick hook means 
that Corey Kluber will start Game 4 for the Indians. The Indians say Bauer could be available for Game 6 or 7, but that seems like a foolish thing to say given how bad Bauer’s finger looked Monday night. By the way, six Indians relievers were used in Game 3 as the Indians defeated the Jays to move to a 3-0 lead in the series (Kluber will face off with Aaron Sanchez in Game 4). No Bauer, no Carlos Carrasco, no Danny Salazar… and one game from the World Series. Wow.
Kenta Maeda will start Game 5 with Julio Urias starting Game 4 for the Dodgers against the Cubs. Urias will be the youngest player ever to start a post season game at 20 years, 68 days. Jeez is he young. Maeda’s last three starts of the regular season resulted in a mere 11.2 innings in which he allowed 10 runs, five walks and 15 hits. His two postseason starts have gone no better as he’s posted a 9.00 ERA and 2.00 WHIP over two starts which covered just seven innings.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday, 8 PM EDT, Wednesday 7 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 9 PM EDT PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).
Player News
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Zach Eflin (lat) is likely to return and start Sunday against the Angels
It was assumed that Eflin would be back this weekend, but now we have a concrete date. The 31-year-old may not be at full strength after throwing fewer than 60 pitches in his rehab start, but the Orioles feel confident enough to have the right-hander back on the bump for the series finale against the Angels.
Riley Greene is not in the lineup for the first game of a doubleheader against the Rockies on Thursday.
Greene will get a break and likely return to the lineup for the second game of the twin-billing. Zach McKinstry will get the start in left field while Greene rests.
Yu Darvish (elbow) is facing live hitters on Thursday.
Darvish has been throwing bullpen sessions and traveled to the team’s complex in Arizona to face live hitters on Thursday. It will be his first time facing live batters since a spring training appearance on March 13th. He will likely need a few sessions like this before the Padres can map out a rehab appearance timeline for him.
Adael Amador is starting at second base and batting ninth for the Rockies on Thursday.
Amador has now started three of the last four games at second base for the Rockies. He’s gone just 7-for-43 this season with 15 strikeouts in 16 games. He’s just 22 years old, so there is plenty of time for him to adjust to the MLB level, but he doesn’t need to be on redraft radars right now.
Jackson Holliday is playing second base and batting second for the Orioles on Thursday against the Twins.
With Cedric Mullins sitting out on Thursday, Gunnar Henderson will bat lead off, and Holliday will jump up from sixth in the order to second. Holliday is riding a hot streak right now, and the Orioles are taking advantage. This is likely just a one-game sample with no Mullins or Adley Rutschman in the lineup, but Rutschman has been struggling, so perhaps it could become a more permanent spot in the lineup for Holliday moving forward.
Endy Rodriguez (finger) had his splint removed this week.
Rodriguez suffered a lacerated right index finger on April 14th. Now that he is out of his splint, he “is playing catch and doing a slightly modified swing.” Once he can progress to taking full swings, we’ll have a better sense of the timeline for his return.