MLB Trade Rumors and News: Rodon set to have Tommy John surgery, Ohtani hits first homer

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• The White Sox likely didn’t have high aspirations for this year, but things got even tougher yesterday as it was announced that starter Carlos Rodon was going to have to have Tommy John surgery and will be until at least mid-2020.
• Shohei Ohtani was one of the cooler stories from the 2018 and his season was at risk as he dealt with an injury to his elbow that required Tommy John surgery. However, the nice thing about Ohtani’s game is that he is a really good hitter in addition to being a special pitcher and he recently returned to the plate. Yesterday, he connected for his first home run on the 2019 season and it was an absolute blast.
• The Rays have bolstered up their backstop situation by acquiring Travis d’Arnaud from the Dodgers this weekend. I’m not quite sure if d’Arnaud is the best way to keep Tampa Bay in first place contention but maybe he can turn that .083/.154/.083 slash line around, huh?
• AlbertPujols may not be the hitter he used to be, but there is no question that he has put together an outstanding career at the plate. Pujols added another feather to his cap when he connected for a home run to eclipse the 2,000 RBI mark for his career. He joins only Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez in the 2,000 RBI club.
• The Blue Jays have acquired Edwin Jackson from Athletics and Edwin Jackson has acquired the uniform of his 14th major league team. The 35-year old will be arguably the most healthy pitcher in the Blue Jay’s rotation, with Buchholz and Shoemaker going down with injuries within a month of each other.
• The Red Sox found themselves in a battle in extra innings against the Orioles on Wednesday evening and off the bat, it looked like Trey Mancini had connected for a walk-off homer in the 11th inning. However, Jackie Bradley Jr. was not ready to go home just yet as he made a spectacular catch to rob Mancini of a homer to prolong the game and allow the Red Sox to get a 2-1 win. Give the video a watch, it is definitely worth it.
• Tyler Glasnow is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a forearm strain, thus continuing this year’s curse of being a pitcher on the Rays. The silver linings? Glasnow’s MRI shows no ligament damage to his elbow, so the damage to his is crosses fingers not going to hurt him more in the long term.
• Roughly seven months and one week after undergoing Tommy John surgery, Shohei Ohtanireturned to the Angels’ active roster and lineup as a designated hitter on Tuesday night. Since he had no spring training and didn’t go on a rehab assignment prior to his activation, it figured that he could be a bit rusty, and it seemed as if that was the case Tuesday, as he went 0 for 4 with a walk, two strikeouts, and an RBI groundout.
• Mike Fiers threw the second no-hitter of his career and the first in the major leagues this season on Tuesday night, keeping the Reds out of the hit column while throwing 131 pitches. Interestingly, he needed fewer pitches to complete the no-no than he did in his first one — he threw 134 pitches while no-hitting the Dodgers in 2015.
• After a really tough start to the season, the Red Sox have been showing signs of turning things around and are flirting with .500 on the season now. Unfortunately, they got some unfortunate news on Monday as they had to place David Price on the injured list with elbow tendinitis.
• Barry Bonds’ beef with Jeff Kent included stolen bus seats, motorcycle mishaps, and a dugout fight.
• The Yankees are the new Mets, as the Bronx Bombers have now placed James Paxton on the injured list with left knee inflammation. Big Maple isn’t expected to be out for an extended period of time, but at this point anything is possible in the Bronx. But if he dealt with an eagle attacking him like a champ, left knee pain should be fine.
• Hunter Dozier’s prospect star seemed to have faded after he struggled in his first six professional seasons. Dozier has arguably been the best player in the American League this season, though, and he looks to be developing into a legitimate star.
• The Twins have a Marwin González problem.
• The Braves’ Dansby Swanson had a rough couple of seasons in 2017 and 2018 at the plate. However, in 2019 he looks like a brand new hitter, and our own Stephen Tolbert took a look at what has changed for Swanson and if these changes appear to be sustainable.
• Cleveland was dealt a big blow to its rotation last Wednesday, as ace Corey Kluber suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right ulna after being hit in the elbow by a line drive. The 33-year-old right-handed will be re-evaluated today to confirm the diagnosis and determine a timetable.
• Padres rookie sensation Fernando Tatis Jr. has been placed on the 10-day injured listwith a strained hamstring and will miss “a number of weeks,” according to manager Andy Green. Manny Machado, he of the infamous “I’m a shortstop, I play shortstop” quote, will shift back to shortstop in Tatis Jr.’s absence. I smell an inside job.
• Our Andersen Pickard examines the early season trends in the AL East...you know, other than literally no one being able to stay healthy.
• Luke Jackson is everything the Braves needed. Is it too early to call the reliever one of the best in baseball? Ooops, too late, we just did.
• The Yankees have been decimated by injuries and needed some help to shore up their roster depth and versatility until they get some guys healthy. To that end, New York acquired Cameron Maybin in a deal for cash from the Indians.
• DJ LeMahieu, Gio Urshela, and the Yankees’ emphasis on exit velocity . Brian Cashman? Reading analytics? Revolutionary.
• There have been a ton of extensions recently around baseball, with many of them given to some of the game’s finest young stars. To keep up with all of the extensions we have seen, here is a tracker our own Cristiana Caruso put together.
• Not only is MLB implementing some rule changes over the next couple of years, but they are also workshopping other changes in the independent Atlantic League to see how things work or don’t work. Our own Stephen Tolbert took a look at these potential changes to see what impacts they could have on games.
• Let’s take a moment to be shocked and surprised: MLB’s revised roster rules could end up punishing the players. That’s thanks to a new limit on pitchers — while it’s yet to be confirmed, multiple reports have stated that come 2020, teams will only be allowed to carry 13 pitchers on their big-league roster — and a significant reduction on September call-ups.