MLB Trade Rumors and News: Blue Jays acquire Daniel Vogelbach

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• In some refreshing baseball news that doesn't involve test results, the Blue Jays have acquired Daniel Vogelbach from the Mariners in exchange for cash considerations. Seattle has designed the young DH for assignment earlier last week. Once a highly regarded prospect, Vogelbach struggled this abridged season, slashing an anemic .094/.250/.225 over his first 64 plate appearances. It’s hard to imagine that this same player was selected for last year’s All-Star Game. Let’s hope a change of scenery can set him up for an underdog comeback that we all desperately need this season. Please, something, anything that’s good news.
• Things on the pandemic front had actually been going pretty well for MLB after the Marlins and Cardinals had gotten their affairs in order finally. Unfortunately, it was not meant to last as the Mets have had a couple of games postponed due to a player and a coach testing positive for COVID-19.
• When Reds fans tuned into their game against the Royals last night, they definitely got more than they bargained for when announcer Thom Brennaman was picked up on a live mic calling some city a homophobic slur before diving right into his pregame analysis. The fallout was swift as later in the broadcast, Brennaman apologized while simultaneously calling a home run and then was pulled from the air. We assume his job is in serious jeopardy and frankly....good riddance.
• To follow up the above headline...why Thom Brennaman’s apology was weak and not enough.
• The Cardinals have activated shortstop Paul DeJong from the IL, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. DeJong will rejoin the team after battling a COVID-19 diagnosis, a sentence that seems pretty absurd to type out. Fortunately, he’s in excellent health and will take his spot back from Tommy Edman, who will return to his usual utility role.
• The Astros are not having the best of seasons when it comes to injuries and, well, a lot of other things that are entirely their fault. Justin Verlander’s season is in question and it was reported that Yordan Alvarez was going to need season ending knee surgery. Now, Alex Bregman is hurt as he had to leave Wednesday’s game with some sort of leg injury.
• Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez will have season-ending surgery to replace a partial patellar tendon tear in his right knee. The 2019 AL Rookie of the Year didn’t debut until August 14 this season as he worked his way back from a COVID-19 diagnosis, and now an injury will keep him out until 2021. More rough news in what has been a really bad year for the Astros.
• Rangers manager Chris Woodward and reliever Ian Gibaut were suspended following their ridiculous attempt to enforce the “unwritten rules” against Fernando Tatis Jr. after he hit a grand slam on a 3-0 count.
• Rays lefty (and occasional DH) Brendan McKay will miss the rest of the 2020 season after having shoulder surgery.
• Ronald Acuña Jr. has been placed on the IL with left wrist inflammation. While it’s set up to be a ten day stint, we can’t be 100% sure that this injury is minor. It’s no surprise that Braves fans want this to be over as soon as possible. The young phenom is hitting .258/.372/.515 with four homers this season, and after the Soroka injury they can use any silver lining they can get.
• We’ve updated our MLB Power Rankings, and yes, they are as weird and out there as the ramifications of this season have led them to be.
• Aaron Judge will be taking his talents to the IL for at least ten days, Newsday’s Roger Rubin reports. The slugger is currently recovering from a minor calf strain and while he’s told the media he “feels 100%”, he’s not eligible for play until Saturday. He was taken out of the game in the sixth inning against the Braves last Tuesday due to what the team was reporting as “lower body tightness”, subsequently missing Wednesday to have a follow up MRI. While the 28-year old chalks the strain up to playing on turf, citing that the discomfort began while the team was away at Tampa Bay, the Yankees are taking the cautious route and giving him the full time on the IL.
• Players getting ejected from games for arguing balls and strikes is a fairly common occurrence and normally wouldn’t warrant much attention. However, Stephen Strasburg somehow managed to get ejected from a game while sitting in the stands last week which is delightfully weirder. Strasburg was watching the game from the stands as he tries to get healthy and apparently his heckling of the umpire was enough to get kicked out despite the fact that he wasn’t even in a dugout. What a time to be alive.
• Jeff McNeil made a truly fantastic play in the same game that Strasburg was ejected from to save a few runs, but afterwards he had to be carted off the field as he could not walk off under his own power. Fortunately for McNeil and the Mets, his X-rays seem to be have come back clean and he is being considered day-to-day, but he also took quite a shot and may take a couple games at least to heal up.
• Indians starters Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger were sent home and placed on the restricted list after it was discovered that they violated league safety protocols and went out in Chicago. On Tuesday, Plesac and Clevinger released apologies that could be viewed by some as less than sincere, and teammates Francisco Lindor and Adam Plutko spoke on the pitchers’ decisions, with Plutko being the most critical of his rotation mates, saying that the starters “hurt us bad,” “lied to us,” and “sat here in front of (the media) and publicly said things that they didn’t follow through on.”
• Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron was suspended 20 games after instigating a brawl with the Athletics on Sunday. Seems like an appropriate punishment for someone who was blatantly trying to start a fight when social distancing is so important.
• Marcus Stroman’s return this season was already looking pretty sketchy due to a muscle tear in his calf. Given the apparent severity of the injury and the shortened season, the logistics of getting him back on the field were a bit daunting. However, Stroman took the guesswork out of the situation by opting out of the rest of the season and potentially playing his last game with the Mets.
• Justin Verlander is not having a great year, but if you’re going to get injured, then he picked the right time to do that. The veteran pitcher will be sidelined with a forearm strain for at least his next few starts, he confirmed on his personal Twitter. His timeline on recovery is unknown, but Verlander per his tweet seemed to be optimistic that this was not a season-ending or hysteria inducing issue. Fingers crossed.