National League notes
Atlanta Braves
OF Nick Markakis, who opted out of the 2020 season before reversing his decision, ended up on the special COVID-19 injured list Aug. 18 despite testing negative for the virus. The Braves isolated him from his teammates after learning that Markakis might have been exposed to someone carrying the virus.
Markakis’ absence led to an earlier than expected promotion of 21-year-old OF Cristian
Pache, the Braves’ top prospect. Pache has been compared to former Brave Andruw Jones as a defender, but he made his major league debut as a left fielder because manager Brian Snitker chose to keep Ender Inciarte in center field for now.
❚ The Braves also need rotation help, and Snitker said there’s a good chance they will turn to 22-year-old RHP Ian
Anderson at some point. Anderson, the third overall pick in the 2016 draft, reached Class AAA in 2019 and has been working out at the Braves’ alternate training site this season.
Miami Marlins
RHP Sixto Sanchez showed off his 100 mph fastball in his major league debut Aug. 22, throwing five pitches that reached triple digits and pitching five solid innings in a win over the Washington Nationals.
“It was everything I expected this to be,” said Sanchez, acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in the J.T. Realmuto trade in February 2019.
❚ SS Miguel Rojas, who hadn’t played since testing positive for COVID-19 the first weekend of the season, hit a threerun homer Aug. 21 in his first atbat after returning to the lineup.
New York Mets
A Mets player and coach tested positive for COVID-19 during an Aug. 17-20 series in Miami, forcing the postponement of the final game of that series and also three weekend games against the New York Yankees.
The Mets announced Aug. 22 that everyone in their traveling party had later tested negative. They were scheduled to resume play Aug. 25 with a doubleheader against the Miami Marlins.
The postponements came after the Mets had won three straight but gave them time to figure out a rotation hit hard by injuries and ineffectiveness. The Mets already had announced that LHP Steven Matz would move to the bullpen and that RHP Seth Lugo would make his first start since 2018. ❚ Rookie LHP David Peterson didn’t think he was badly hurt after he was scratched from an Aug. 18 start because of a sore right shoulder. An MRI showed no structural damage.
Philadelphia Phillies
In last place in the National League East with more than one-third of the season already gone, the Phillies acquired three relievers Aug. 21 – RHP David
Hale from the New York Yankees and RHPs Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree from the Boston Red Sox.
Before the trades, Phillies relievers had combined for an 8.07 ERA, the highest in the majors and the worst through 21 games of any Phillies team since 1938.
Workman was charged with a blown save and loss in his Aug. 22 Phillies debut but earned the save the next night despite giving up a run. Hembree pitched 1 2⁄3 scoreless innings in his debut Aug. 23.
❚ LHP JoJo Romero made a good first impression, striking out the side on 12 pitches in his Aug. 21 major league debut.
Washington Nationals
RHP Stephen Strasburg’s
2020 season ended after just two starts and five innings when doctors determined he would need surgery to alleviate carpal tunnel neuritis in his right hand.
“I’ve told you before we want to make sure that he’s 100% when he comes back,” manager
Dave Martinez said. “We don’t want nothing else to break down on him. So we’re going to take this very slowly and carefully.”
Strasburg, who threw 209 innings and was the World Series MVP in 2019, signed a sevenyear, $245 million contract last December.
While RHP Erick Fedde took Strasburg’s spot in the rotation, the Nationals also gave a start to 25-year-old RHP Wil Crowe, who made his major league debut Aug. 22 and gave up four runs in 3 2⁄3 innings in a loss to the Miami Marlins.
❚ The Nationals fired Jazhiel Morel, who worked at their academy in the Dominican Republic, after video emerged that showed him throwing two cups of hot coffee at a convenience store employee.
Chicago Cubs
3B Kris Bryant’s difficult season took another bad turn when he was placed on the injured list because of a sprained finger on his left hand.
Bryant also jammed his left wrist while playing left field and attempting a diving catch Aug. 12 in a win over the Indians at Cleveland. He received an injection for that injury Aug. 18 and has not played since.
The 2016 NL MVP has a .177 batting average and two home runs in 16 games.
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein said he doesn’t think the wrist will be “a long-term lingering injury.” IF
David Bote is filling in at third. ❚ OF Steven Souza Jr. also went on the DL, retroactive to Aug. 17, because of a strained right hamstring. Signed as a free agent in the offseason, Souza is hitting .190 with one homer in nine games.
Cincinnati Reds
Play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman was suspended indefinitely from the broadcast team after using an anti-gay slur on the air Aug. 19.
Brennaman used the slur right after Fox Sports Ohio returned from a commercial break before the top of the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader against the Royals at Kansas City. Brennaman did not realize he was on the air.
The Reds issued an apology for what the team called a “horrific, homophobic remark.” Fox Sports announced the following day that it had removed Brennaman from its NFL telecasts this season.