Last night was the first game on a rehab assignment for Cincinnati Reds infielder Mike Moustakas. He joined the Triple-A Louisville Bats in Omaha with the hopes that he could get a few at-bats before joining the Reds in San Diego on their road trip at some point later in the week. In his first at-bat he grounded out to first base, but he hit the ball hard. The next time to the plate he popped up to the catcher in foul territory. It was his third trip to the plate where he picked up his first hit as he lined a single into left-center. After the inning was over he was removed from the game. That’s not unheard of – plenty of rehab guys get three at-bats in their first game of rehab and are removed from the game. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for Moustakas, who has returned to Cincinnati after having some soreness in his injured foot.
“Moose actually went back to Cincinnati,” said Reds manager David Bell on Wednesday prior to the Brewers game. “He had a little bit of soreness in his foot last night. He’s going to get examined again and kind of see what we’re dealing with later today. I don’t really have anymore information on that but I think it becomes a long shot for him to join us in San Diego now.”
While Cincinnati has been playing well, going 12-3 in their last 15 games, getting back Mike Moustakas certainly improves the team. But it seems that it’s going to be a bit longer before we can see him back on the field. How much longer is likely going to be something we’ll find out in the next day or two after he’s examined by the team doctors later today.
Tejay Antone could return this weekend
Cincinnati’s bullpen has been a problem most of the season. Tejay Antone has been the lone bright spot this year among the Reds relievers, but he’s been on the injured list since June 11th. His placement on the injured list was retroactive to June 8th, though, making him eligible to return tomorrow in San Diego, but it may be a few days after that.
“I’m still hopeful he comes back while we’re in San Diego,” manager David Bell said on Wednesday of Antone. “The way his days line up for his bullpens, I don’t think it’ll be Friday. Depending on how many bullpens he needs it could be Saturday or even Monday. At this point we want to get him back, but we want to make sure we make the most of this time off, so if we have to throw an extra bullpen we’ll do it.”
Well, if nothing else, it postpones the hard decisions for the FO and Bell.
Doesn’t sound good but , for all the talk about the top three in our lineup- and deservedly so- Farmer has been a bit of an unsung hero manning the SS. Very few surprises when the ball is hit to him and he’s been far from an automatic out at the bottom of the lineup.
agree
Farmer deserves a ton if credit for a very solid performance. He’s solid with the glove and he hit better than almost anyone on either team last night.
I thought that perhaps I was missing out on Kyle Farmer so I checked and he has a .278 on base percentage this year. I even checked his splits to see if he was doing better in June. Its .267 in June. That is the definition of an automatic out.
Kyle Farmer can field. What he can’t do is hit.
When Cozart put up those numbers the fan base was pulling out it’s collective hair. I guess the above posts are an example of the soft bigotry of low expectations.
I appreciate Farmer. He is a versatile and solid defender. But he is worst bat in the starting lineup and it isn’t close.
Farmer’s Defensive flexibility makes him invaluable FOR the team. As 4 his hitting, he usually has quality ABs and has some very timely hits. Most ML players r avg hitters when you think about it. Likewise, hitting from 7 or 8 hole doesn’t exactly give a player a lot of protection. Overall, he’s playing GREAT and appears to be a Great Clubhouse presence as well. It’s a long season and players like Farmer r needed on every team to get through it w/ success!
The worst bat in the lineup belongs to Suarez!
I’m no big fan of Suarez and his performance this season merits him becoming a platoon player until he rights himself.
That being said, Suarez’ OPS is 30 points higher. Farmer is sub-600 which is not anywhere close to ‘league average’ as suggested. Suarez’s iso is a career low 200 but Farmer’s is still just about half that.
By virtually any metric save average, Farmer is bar none the worst bat in the ‘everyday’ lineup.
Farmer responds where needed. He’s a valuable guy and is getting it done at shortstop until Barrero takes over or something else happens.
Yep, Tuesday night as I was lamenting Farmer coming to the plate with 1 out and a potential insurance run at 3B in the 10th inning, he promptly punched a lazy fly just deep enough to the outfield to plate the run which turned out to be the winning difference in the game.
Regardless, I am wondering what the vector point is for the Reds to go on and elevate Jose (Garcia) Barrero because his defense at SS would be better than Farmer and offense no worse. I suspect it has more to do with Barrero’s development and a possible move of Suárez back to SS when Moose returns than with Farmer’s offense so long as Farmer doesn’t fall clear off the cliff. Should Moose’s injury turn into a long term issue that may change the parameters.
Lets all hope Moose is back soon and this is just a very small setback.
Has anyone heard about Hoffman recently?
So you think Suarez at shortstop with Moose back is a better option?
I personally prefer Farmer. Shortstop is still primarily a defensive position.
Does it matter much? The Reds aren’t benching Suarez or Moose or India or Votto to play Kyle Farmer. When everyone is healthy the Reds are going back to what we saw earlier this season.
I believe that Suarez and Moose and India and Votto provide more overall value than one of those guys being benched so Kyle Farmer can OPS 600 and play shortstop. David Bell has never called me to ask my thoughts on it though. If he is reading this let me know and I will give my number because I have a lot of good ideas he should listen to!
Yes I totally agree because Suarez is just to shakey playing short
I feel for Bell when he has to discuss injuries.He is getting it from the medical staff,the player and I am sure from his boss on how and what to say.Maybe its the same elsewhere but it rarely plays out as to what the actual injury is and how long the player will be out.It just makes him look clueless and he is just the messenger.
Part of Bell’s job is to get the real information. If he isn’t getting it, it’s as much on him as it is the sources. Part of managing is cutting through the BS and dealing with reality. Just because the Reds are riding a good streak, doesn’t mean that Bell is suddenly the reincarnation of Sparky Anderson.
It’s the nature of injuries and recovering from them to be unpredictable. The information Bell gets and what he says to the press aren’t necessarily in lock-step, and it would be hard to judge Bell in relation to Sparky unless Bell had Sparky’s Hall of Fame lineup. Or the reverse.
If you arent going to call up Alejo at least try him at SS in Louisville.
Why not try Tyler Stephenson at shortstop?
There’s a reason he (Lopez) hasn’t played there. They know he can’t play there.
It looks as though this is written in English every time you have to say it (only changing the name); I guess it must automatically get translated into an obscure foreign dialect when it shows up on screens because the message certainly doesn’t seem to get comprehended.
Lopez probably isn’t a SS, but he’s played a few games at SS every year in the minors. So it’s not as absurd as “Why not try Tyler Stephenson at shortstop?” Barrero is the answer to SS. Hopefully he gets the AAA promotion soon, he’s obviously got a hot bat in AA.
Doug, are you saying this isn’t High School and everyone doesn’t get a chance to try and play SS ?
I might as well be saying it.
One step forward and two steps back with these injuries . It’s amazing the team is playing so well.
We might be better off without Moose for the time being. The team we’re putting on the field is doing just fine! Hundreds of teams in the history of baseball have done very well with a good field, no-hit SS.
I love the optimism, but I definitely think Moustakas would be an upgrade over Mike Freeman.
That I agree with.
Freeman doesn’t really count. Of course he belongs back in the minors and only plays to give starters a day off.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned the 17 strikeouts our staff had today! Great starting AND relief pitching throughout this series! HUGE game-ending strikeouts the last two days!
So I guess they have officially given up on the multi-million dollar outlay for AlfRod if they aren’t going to bring him up this year.
Plantar fasciitis isn’t easy to heal. It takes a long time and let’s be real, Moustakas isn’t a skinny guy which doesn’t help matters. Most football players who get it end up having surgery. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the 60 day here soon.
The thought has crossed my mind Moose is in a trial balloon period right now to figure out what he can do, will doing it risk worse long term damage and can he tolerate the ongoing pain versus going straight to the long term treatment/ recovery options. That he brought himself in for reevaluation after one game cannot be an encouraging sign.