Phillies won’t put Harper on 60-day IL; Diamondbacks lose catcher

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
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The Philadelphia Phillies are leaving open the possibility for Bryce Harper to return to their lineup much sooner than the All-Star break, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a quicker-than-expected return for the slugger from reconstructive right elbow surgery.

While Harper will begin the season on the injured list, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday that the two-time National League MVP will not, for now, be placed on the longer 60-day IL that would mean he couldn’t be activated before the end of May.

“I’m not setting any dates, but I’m just keeping that option open rather than closing an option,” Dombrowski said from the team’s spring training facility in Clearwater, Florida.

After Harper had Tommy John surgery in November, the National League champions said they expected him back in the lineup as their designated hitter by the All-Star break in July. The slugger indicated the same when he got to camp last month, adding that they were going to be smart about his recovery and rehab.

Dombrowski said the timetable hasn’t really changed, and that the Phillies could still use the 60-day IL if they need to open a spot on the 40-man roster and know then Harper wouldn’t be back before the end of May.

“So it’s really not a great revelation other than to just say the reality is, I’m going to just keep our options open, because who knows what happens,” Dombrowski said.

Going into the fifth season of a $330 million, 13-year contract with the Phillies, Harper hasn’t played right field since last April 16. He had a platelet-rich plasma injection on his elbow in May and became a full-time designated hitter to finish the season, helping lead the Phillies to their first World Series appearance since 2009.

Dombrowski said Harper, who for now is still hitting soft toss in the batting cages every other day, is feeling great and has no pain.

“All I’ve said, and all I’ll continue to say, it’ll be before the All-Star break is our hope,” Dombrowski said. “But I’m also going to keep the option open that we’ll see what happens.”

DIAMONDBACKS CATCHER OUT

The Arizona Diamondbacks will go into the season without catcher Carson Kelly, who has a broken bone in his right forearm after getting hit by a pitch in a Cactus League game.

Kelly will likely miss several months, though manager Torey Lovullo wasn’t ready to discuss a potential timeline for the catcher’s return when announcing the diagnosis Tuesday.

“I always hope for a miracle and that there’s going to be an unbelievable recovery,” Lovullo said a day after Kelly got struck by a pitch from Chicago White Sox right-hander Gregory Santos.

Gabriel Moreno, the 23-year-old catcher the Diamondbacks acquired in a trade with Toronto during the offseason, could now become their starter. He made his big league debut last season hitting .319 in 25 games for the Blue Jays.

The Diamondbacks also still have Jose Herrera, their backup last season, and P.J. Higgins in their spring training camp.

“We’ve got to have our conversation and just watch these guys play. So to me, there is no leg up. Everybody’s neutral,” Lovullo said. “We’re throwing everything back into the pool and we’re going to start to figure out what to do. We’ve got some really good options.”

SORE CUETO

The Miami Marlins are being cautious with veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto, who is dealing with arm soreness just over a week before the start of the regular season.

First-year manager Skip Schumaker didn’t seem concerned Tuesday when explaining why Cueto didn’t do his scheduled work on a back field the previous day. Cueto had been set to throw about 70 pitches while simulating four or five innings.

“This is a time where there’s no reason to push through this general soreness,” Schumaker said. “If he needs another extra day, you give people extra days and that’s the value of spring training. You’re allowed to do that.”

Cueto, back in camp with the Marlins after making a start for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, is scheduled for a bullpen session Wednesday. If all goes well, he could pitch in a game for the Marlins on Friday.

The 37-year-old Cueto is going into his 16th big league season. He pitched last year for the Chicago White Sox before his deal with the Marlins that will pay him $6 million this season and includes a $10.5 million team option for 2024 with a $2.5 million buyout.

Cueto allowed 11 runs over 3 2/3 innings in his two spring starts for the Marlins before going to the WBC, where he allowed three runs over two innings in his lone start.

NOLA AND SOTO

San Diego Padres manager Bob Melvin said Tuesday that there is “still a chance” catcher Austin Nola, who two days earlier was hit in the face by a pitch while batting, will get in another spring training game and be able to start the regular season with the team.

Melvin said Nola has a slight fracture to his nose, but no black eye or excessive swelling. The catcher could resume some mild baseball activity by Wednesday or Thursday.

“It’s remarkable to me,” Melvin said. “I’m shocked.”

Melvin also reported that Juan Soto got an MRI on his strained left oblique that has bothered him since a “B” game on Sunday.

“We’re thinking it’s fairly mild,” Melvin said of Soto.

DODGERS OPENER

Julio Urías is lined up to start on Opening Day for the Los Angeles Dodgers and that’s OK with teammate Clayton Kershaw.

Manager Dave Roberts hasn’t announced his scheduled starter for March 30 at home against Arizona. But Urías will pitch Friday in a Cactus League game against Milwaukee as he returns to Dodgers camp from participating in the World Baseball Classic with Mexico.

That would put the left-hander on regular rest for the opener and set Kershaw for the second game of the year.

Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, has made a franchise-record nine opening-day starts for the Dodgers.

“I’m excited for Julio to get to do it,” Kershaw said Tuesday. “I’m assuming Julio gets to do it. He deserves it. It is a special thing to get to do it. I think it should be whoever pitched the best the year before and he did that.”

The 26-year-old Urías went 17-7 with a 2.16 ERA in 31 starts last season. He was 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 2021.

Kershaw, who turned 35 on Sunday, is a nine-time All-Star with five ERA titles. But he’s been troubled by injuries in recent years. The left-hander was 12-3 with a 2.28 ERA in 22 starts covering 126 1/3 innings last season.

LORENZEN UNCERTAINTY

The Detroit Tigers are unsure if right-hander Michael Lorenzen will pitch in another spring training game, making his availability for the start of the season uncertain.

Lorenzen, who joined the Tigers on a $10 million, one-year deal during the offseason, is dealing with a left groin strain. He was scratched from his scheduled start Monday.

“Day to day, it’s all we know,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Tuesday. “We’ll see how he feels the next few days. Can’t make an assessment until that time goes by and he gets his treatment and we see where he’s at.”

STEP FOR SOROKA

Michael Soroka is set to make his Grapefruit League debut for the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, though the 25-year-old right-hander won’t be ready to be in their rotation at the start of the season.

Soroka hasn’t pitched in the majors since tearing his right Achilles in August 2020 and having three different surgeries. He then had hamstring tightness at the start of spring training.

After being an All-Star as a rookie in 2019, when he was 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts, Soroka tore his right Achilles three starts into the pandemic-impacted 2020 season. He tore that Achilles again the following summer, then was sidelined until throwing in six minor league games last year.

Jacob deGrom, oft-injured Rangers ace, to have season-ending right elbow surgery

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Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a $185 million, five-year deal in free agency last winter hoping the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner could help them get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and make a push toward winning a World Series.

They also knew the risks, with the pitcher coming off two injury-plagued seasons with the New York Mets.

Even with deGrom sidelined since late April, the AL West-leading Rangers are off to the best start in franchise history – but now will be without their prized acquisition until at least next year. The team said Tuesday that deGrom will have season-ending surgery next week to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

“We’ve got a special group here and to not be able to be out there and help them win, that stinks,” deGrom said, pausing several times with tears in his eyes. “Wanting to be out there and helping the team, it’s a disappointment.”

General manager Chris Young said Tuesday the decision on surgery came after an MRI on deGrom’s ailing right elbow, but the extent of what is required might not be determined until the operation is performed next week.

Tommy John surgery, in which the damaged ligament is replaced, is often needed to fix a torn UCL, but Young and the Rangers didn’t go as far as saying the pitcher would have that particular procedure. After being drafted by the New York Mets in 2010, deGrom made six starts in the minors that summer before needing Tommy John surgery and missing all of 2011, three years before his big league debut.

DeGrom last pitched April 28 against the New York Yankees, when he exited early because of injury concerns for the second time in a span of three starts. The announcement about surgery came a day after deGrom was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Young said the latest MRI showed more inflammation and significant structural damage in the ligament that wasn’t there on the scan after deGrom left the game against the Yankees.

“The results of that MRI show that we have not made progress. And in fact, we’ve identified some damage to the ligament,” Young said. “It’s obviously a tough blow for Jacob, for certainly the Rangers. But we do feel this is what is right for Jacob in his career. We’re confident he’ll make a full recovery.”

Young and deGrom, who turns 35 later this month, said the goal is for the pitcher to return near the end of next season. Both said they were glad to have clarity on what was wrong with the elbow.

Texas won all six games started by deGrom (2-0), but the right-hander threw only 30 1/3 innings. He has a 2.67 ERA with 45 strikeouts and four walks. He threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Yankees in his last start before leaving because of discomfort in his arm.

The Rangers went into Tuesday night’s game against St. Louis with a 39-20 record, the first time they were 19 games over .500 since the end of 2016, their last winning season.

Before going home to Florida over the weekend for the birth of his third child, deGrom threw his fifth bullpen last Wednesday in Detroit.

“I’d have days where I’d feel really good, days where I didn’t feel great. So I was kind of riding a roller coaster there for a little bit,” deGrom said. “They said originally there, we just saw some inflammation. … Getting an MRI right after you pitch, I feel like anybody would have inflammation. So, you know, I was hoping that that would get out of there and I would be fine. But it just didn’t work out that way.”

DeGrom spent his first nine big league seasons with the Mets, but was limited by injuries to 156 1/3 innings over 26 starts during his last two years in New York.

He had a career-low 1.08 ERA over 92 innings in 2021 before missing the final three months of the season with right forearm tightness and a sprained elbow.

The four-time All-Star didn’t make his first big league start last year until Aug. 2 after being shut down late in spring training because of a stress reaction in his right scapula.

His latest injury almost surely will trigger Texas’ conditional option on deGrom’s contract for 2028.

The option takes effect if deGrom has Tommy John surgery on his right elbow from 2023-26 or has any right elbow or shoulder injury that causes him to be on the IL for any period of 130 consecutive days during any season or 186 days in a row during any service period.

The conditional option would be for $20 million, $30 million or $37 million, depending on deGrom’s performance during the contract and health following the 2027 season.

“I feel bad for Jake. If I know Jake, he’ll have the surgery and come back and finish his career strong,” second-year Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “I know how much it means to him. He enjoys pitching. It’s certainly sad news for all of us.”