MLB Trade Rumors and News: Stephen Strasburg reaches historic strikeout milestone

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• Stephen Strasburg has been a polarizing figure at times amongst baseball fans, but there is no denying that he has a penchant for putting up big time strikeout totals. On Thursday, he hit 1,500 career strikeouts in the fewest number of innings (1,272.1 IP) in baseball history.
• 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.
• The Indians were dealt a big blow to their rotation on Wednesday night, as ace Corey Klubersuffered a non-displaced fracture of his right ulna after being hit in the elbow following a line drive. The 33-year-old right-handed will be re-evaluated today to confirm the diagnosis and determine a timetable.
• CC Sabathia struck out Diamondbacks catcher John Ryan Murphy in the second inning of Tuesday night’s interleague matchup, becoming just the 17th pitcher in major-league history to join the 3,000-strikeout club. 14 of the 16 pitchers to record 3,000 or more strikeouts are already in the Hall of Fame — and Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling may both end up getting in despite significant off-the-field controversies that have delayed their respective inductions. So while voters seem to be less influenced by “magic numbers” than they’ve ever been before, the fact that Sabathia joined such an exclusive club on Tuesday night certainly doesn’t hurt his chances of being immortalized in Cooperstown sometime next decade.
• 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.
• About a year later than most expected they would do so, the Reds are poised to call up top prospect Nick Senzel from Triple-A Louisville prior to Friday’s game against the Giants.
• 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.
• The long wait is over, as the Blue Jays have promoted third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the top prospect in baseball as ranked by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. He’s finally in the majors, where he belongs.
• The AL East-leading Rays will be without utility player Joey Wendle for a significant amount of time after he suffered a fractured right wrist in Wednesday afternoon’s loss to the Royals.
• Here’s a timeline of how Kyler Murray went from baseball to the No. 1 NFL Draft pick, in case you got wrapped up in draft fever last week and are a little behind on what’s hip and cool.
• Carlos Martínez was a two-time NL All-Star as a starting pitcher, and he’s served as the Cardinals’ de-facto ace for the last half-decade. But since Martínez has been dealing with shoulder issues for nearly a year now, the team has decided that he will be a reliever upon his return from the injured list, as manager Mike Shildt told reporters last week. The move is an effort to preserve the health of Martínez, who spent three stints on the then-DL last season and has spent all of 2019 to date on the injured list.
• How the 2001 Mariners completely fell apart.
• Nathan Eovaldi is no stranger to arm trouble, but he did parlay a strong return from injury last season into a lucrative four year deal with the Red Sox. Unfortunately, Boston will be without Eovaldi for a while, as he had a surgical procedure on his elbow that will keep him out of action for at least 4-6 weeks.
• There has 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.
• Let’s gawk at some crazy Triple-A stats, because baseball is fun and we’re all having a great time.
• The Yankees have been decimated by injuries this season (just see below for a sampling) and have been in need of some help in their rotation. That is why it is a bit surprising that they released veteran arm Gio Gonzalez Monday, and doesn’t bode well for his chances to catch on elsewhere.
• Say it ain’t so, Yankees fans. Aaron Judge has suffered a “significant” oblique strain and will miss time on the injured list. So wait...who is even left on the team? Oh my goodness, it’s Jacoby Ellsbury. This has been his plan all along.
• Khris Davis’ batting average wizardry is even more impressive than you think.
• Speaking of magic...Oakland has gotten a steady amount of power production out of Khris Davis over the last couple of seasons and he is off to a hot start in 2019. Recognizing this, the Athletics inked Davis to a two-year, $33.5 million deal.
• In the latest unfortunate development in the sad story that has become Greg Bird’s career, the left-handed hitting first baseman will miss an indefinite period of time after suffering a left plantar fascia tear. Luke Voit and Mike Ford are holding down first base in his absence.
• Ramón Laureano is the new human highlight reel.
• Our own Andersen Pickard writes that MLB’s decision to shorten mid-inning breaks could have serious consequences for the league from a business standpoint.
• Here’s a hot serving of truth: The unwritten rules of baseball will never “let the kids play.”
• 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.