Blister to blame for Santana's struggles? - MLB

Johan Santana tied a career-high by serving up four homers to the
Phillies last week and turned in the worst start of his career against
the Yankees yesterday, allowing nine runs while failing to make it out
of the fourth inning.

After watching Santana get clobbered for the second straight start, pitching coach Dan Warthen suggested that a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand may be to blame by changing the grip on his fastball:

He’s fought through it for almost a month, but now that it’s healed,
the ball plane has changed. It’s going to decrease the velocity if it’s
cutting like it is. The two-seamer is cutting at times also.
Physically, he’s in good shape. And the arm feels good. We just have to
find out what the delivery issue is right now.

Santana dealt with blisters and cracked finger nails at various times
in Minnesota, but insisted yesterday that the latest issue is not a big
deal. His velocity is indeed down, but only slightly, as his fastball
averaged 90.1 miles per hour during the past two starts compared to
90.9 mph for the season overall.

Of course, 90.9 mph is the worst fastball speed of his career and
his average velocity has dropped from 93.1 to 91.7 to 91.2 to 90.9
since his Cy Young-winning 2006 campaign. All eyes will be on Santana
when he takes the mound next against the Rays this weekend, but in the
meantime I’ll pass along a bit of encouraging history for Mets fans.

The last time that Santana allowed five or more runs in back-to-back
starts was in July of 2003, which was his first month as a full-time
member of the Twins’ rotation. He shook off those struggles to go 8-0
with a 2.51 ERA in 11 starts to finish the season. As the world’s biggest Santana fan I’m hoping that history repeats itself.

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Aaron Hicks less than 24 hours after Cedric Mullins went down with a strained right groin.

Mullins went on the 10-day injured list, but the Orioles are hoping Hicks can help defensively in the spacious outfield at Camden Yards. Hicks was released last week by the New York Yankees with more than 2 1/2 seasons left on his contract.

“We had noticed that he was a free agent even before the injury,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “When the injury occurred and it became pretty clear this was going to be an IL, it seemed like a good fit even more so at that time.”

The Orioles are responsible for paying Hicks just $483,871, a prorated share of the $720,000 minimum salary. The Yankees owe him the rest of his $10.5 million salary this year, plus $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons and a $1 million buyout of a 2026 team option.

The 33-year-old Hicks hit just .188 in 28 games for the Yankees this year.

“We have stuff that we look at from a scouting and evaluation perspective,” Elias said. “It’s very different from just looking at the back of a baseball card, and we hope that we get a bounceback from anyone we bring here.”

Hicks batted .216 last season.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Baltimore deal. “A lot of time here and a lot of good things happened for him here. I know the last couple of years have been a struggle. But hopefully it’s a good opportunity for him and certainly wish him well. Not too well being in our division and a team we’re chasing, but hopefully it’s a really good fit for him.”

Mullins left a loss to Cleveland after he pulled up while running out an infield grounder. Outfielder Colton Cowser – the fifth pick in the draft two years ago – is hitting .331 at Triple-A Norfolk, but he went on the IL in the past couple weeks.

“Certainly he was building a case towards promotion consideration prior to his injury and prior to Cedric’s injury,” Elias said. “We’ll just see where we’re at.”

Hicks was active for the game but not in the starting lineup. Austin Hays, normally Baltimore’s left field, was in Mullins’ usual spot in center.

When the wall in left at Camden Yards was pushed significantly back before last season, it made left field a bigger challenge defensively.

“In this park … you really need two center fielders,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Aaron’s got a lot of center-field experience. Played left field here before also. Brings the defensive aspect and then the switch-hitting.”