Trade Rumors and News: Mariners Santiago removed from game after foreign substance check

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• Hector Santiago was removed from the Mariners White Sox game after having a foreign substance on his hand, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi claimed that the pitcher had sticky substance all over his glove, however the pitcher maintains that it was only rosin. Santiago is now subject to a ten-day suspension under MLB’s new rules against ball doctoring. He would become the first player to be punished under the new crackdown that started last Monday.
• Josh Naylor was carted off with a severe injury after collision. He suffered a severe right leg injury, and was visibly in pain when he hit the grass. Cleveland has yet to provide any updates on his status.
• Braves starter Mike Soroka has re-ruptures his Achilles and will not pitch again in 2021.

• After making three starts in 2020, he tore his Achilles. He hadn’t pitched since then. In 2019, in 29 starts he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and .236 OBA.
• Athletics sign Homer Bailey to a minor league contract. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The 35-year old was ravaged by injuries in 2020. The last time the veteran played on Oakland, he hurled 4.30 ERA over 13 starts and 73 1/3 innings. Here’s hoping for a comeback.
• It is always nice to start the day with some good news and Cubs fans woke up to fuzzy feelings all around as Chicago used four pitchers including starter Zach Davies and closer Craig Kimbrel to no-hit the Dodgers. Kimbrel looked like the Kimbrel of old and lets not understate how difficult it is to shut down that Dodgers offense. Really impressive.
• The Nationals suddenly find themselves surging in the NL East and right in the thick of the race for first place. Unfortunately, Josh Bell, whose hot hitting had helped propel Washington up the standings, is headed for an MRI on his right side which is never great news.
• There was a bit of news coming out of the NL East last night on the eve of the series finale between the Braves and Mets. For the Mets, it was good news as Michael Conforto was activated from the injured list after dealing with a hamstring injury for a month or so. The news was less good for the Braves as MVP candidate Ronald Acuna Jr. ended up being a late scratch from the game due to tightness in his lower back.
• MLB’s routine foreign substance checks for pitchers, which began on Monday, got a little weird on Tuesday night. Nationals ace Max Scherzer lived up to his “Mad Max” nickname, rolling his eyes and throwing his hands in the air during an early routine check. Then when Phillies manager Joe Girardi requested that he be checked for a third time during the middle of an inning, Scherzer threw down his hat, unbuckled his belt, and looked like he was about to take off his pants before being discouraged from doing so. As it turned out, Scherzer walked so Sergio Romo could run, as the veteran A’s reliever threw down his hat, glove, and belt before dropping his pants during a foreign substance check.
• The Rays promoted top prospect Wander Franco, and he immediately made his presence known on Tuesday night, hitting a game-tying homer for his first major league hit while also collecting a double and a walk. At Triple-A Durham, the 20-year-old was slashing .323/.376/.601 with seven home runs in 173 plate appearances.
• The Mets’ rotation sustained a pair of blows on Tuesday, as the team announced that lefty Joey Lucchesi will undergo Tommy John surgery, then right-hander Marcus Stroman exited his start early with left hip soreness. While they have a comfortable lead in the NL East, the Mets continue to be dealt an incredible amount of adversity, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can stay afloat.
• The Blue Jays have signed veteran reliever John Axford, reports Jamie Campbell of Sportsnet. The 38-year-old hasn’t seen a major league mound since 2018 and had been working as an analyst on the Jays’ pre and postgame shows before being asked to pitch for them again. The bulk of his career came with the Brewers, as he played in Milwaukee from 2009-13, but now the Ontario native will embark on his third stint with Toronto.
• The Tigers have released Wilson Ramos, per a club announcement. The 33-year old signed a $2M deal with Detroit at the beginning of this year, and he looked like he was really giving the Tigers the most value for their buck after going yard six times in his first nine games. Unfortunately that took a turn in early May, when a back injury completely derailed the 12-year major league veteran. Should he be able to heal quickly enough for a late season renaissance, he could make a great extra backstop for a team in contention. Posting a 105 wRC+ for the Mets in 2019, he’s still got some gas left in the tank for whatever team is willing to take the risk.
• Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is going to be out for an extended period after suffering a quad injury trying to beat out a double play last week.
• Rays ace Tyler Glasnow’s season is in jeopardy after he suffered a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his right arm. He’ll initially try to rehab the injuries rather than immediately opting for Tommy John surgery. In an interesting crossover with the biggest story being discussed around baseball right now, Glasnow said MLB’s crackdown on foreign substances contributed to his injury, as he stopped using a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, and as a result he began gripping the baseball so hard that he injured his elbow.
• A lot has been made in recent weeks about the proliferation of foreign substances used primarily (but certainly not exclusively) by pitchers to get better grip on balls to have better command as well as to generate greater spin. It has been clear that MLB was going to crack down on the practice and now it looks like it has landed on its chosen punishment, as it was announced that players found to be using such substances will receive a 10 game paid suspension.
• It is fair to say that the 2021 season has been a particularly weird one. Teams that we all thought would be good haven’t been and teams that were thought to be afterthoughts have been anything but. Our own Andersen Pickard broke down the five most surprising teams from the 2021 season so far.
• It’s the most glorious time of the year: here’s your 2021 MLB Draft primer for notable players, draft order, and more.
• The Twins are dragging their feet for extension talks with Jose Berrios, SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson reports. Berrios has one last year of arbitration eligibility before he’s free to sow his wild oats and hit the market in the 2022-23 offseason. And as of now, the Twins have done little to nothing to stop him. Could that be because the NL Central 4th place team is looking to use him as a lucrative trade chip come this year’s deadline? The 27-year old could bring a significant return for Minnesota, but is it enough to risk for them losing him? He’s having another strong season this year, with a 3.49 ERA and a 26% strikeout rate. Either way, as the trade deadline gets closer, we’ll see what moves the Twins are thinking of making.
• After going 5-24 in the month of May, the Arizona Diamondbacks are reeling and are already buried in an NL West where even a good season would not guarantee a playoff berth. In order to try to stop the bleeding and try to get back to some level of decency, Arizona fired hitting coaches Eric Hinske and Darnell Coles. Sadly, given the breadth of that roster’s issues, it seems like that they will still end up as one of the league’s worst teams.
• Baseball’s draft is slowly transitioning more and more to how drafts are run in other sports which is definitely a good thing. While the MLB draft has certainly been covered as an event, there were not a lot of players present during the draft festivities because of the conflict with the college season and the pre-draft workouts were largely private and lesser in number, again, because of conflicts with games being played. The league appears to be trying to change that as they announced a draft combine with over 100 players scheduled to attend towards the end of June.
• Yankees starter Gerrit Cole, long suspected to be one of baseball’s most prominent sticky substance users, delivered an extremely uncomfortable minute-long answer when asked by the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff whether he’s ever used Spider Tack while pitching. Cole did not provide an explicit yes or no, saying “I don’t know quite how to answer that, to be quite honest” and suggesting the shady practice was the fault of veterans who had passed it down to younger pitchers.
• Outfielder Jarred Kelenic, widely regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects and the potential savior of the Mariners organization, was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma after getting into an 0-for-39 slump. Kelenic, who played just 28 games in the upper minors (21 at Double-A in 2019 and seven at Triple-A this year) before reaching the majors, has an .096 batting average and .378 OPS in 23 major league games.
• The Mets had been hopeful to get Noah Syndergaard back in their rotation soonish to try and hold off their division rivals in what has been a surprisingly bad National League East. Unfortunately, they will have to wait a good bit longer, as Syndergaard’s rehab hit a setback, and elbow inflammation will keep him out until at least August.