Baseball Daily Dose: Daily Dose: Precious CarGo
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It looked for a while like injuries might rob us of Carlos Gonzalez in his prime. Luckily that hasn’t wound up being the case.
CarGo continued his fantastic 2016 campaign on Tuesday, going 4-for-5 with a home run and five RBI in a loss to the Blue Jays. The homer was CarGo’s 18th of the season and he now has 51 RBI. That puts him on pace for 38 home runs and 107 RBI, not to mention 112 runs, to go along with a .329/.373/.586 batting line. Gonzalez has homered in two straight contests and has three straight multi-hit games.
Gonzalez’s dominance stretches back farther than this season, though. The 30-year-old hit 36 home runs, drove in 84 and slugged an absurd .624 from June on last season, a stretch covering 108 games. That means he’s hit 54 longballs over his last 182 contests.
While the Rockies are in the Wild Card hunt at the moment, the odds seem to be good that they’ll wind up being sellers next month. Is this the year they finally trade CarGo after years of speculation? His contract is very reasonable at this point, with a $17 million salary in 2016 and $20 million on tap for 2017, so the Rockies should be able to get a very nice return for Gonzalez as they look to remake their roster.
CarGo’s fantasy owners no doubt are wishing that the outfielder stays put, of course. He’s sporting an OPS well over 1.000 in his career at Coors Field, while it’s nearly 300 points lower on the road.
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Kershaw Getting Back Checked
The Dodgers have dealt with more than their fair share of injuries to their rotation this season and are still sitting in playoff position. However, what they can’t afford is for their ace and the best pitcher on the planet to go down.
Clayton Kershaw’s back was sore on Monday following Sunday’s start, so he will fly back to Los Angeles on Wednesday morning to visit with back surgeon Dr. Robert Watkins. Manager Dave Roberts revealed Tuesday that Kershaw’s back first started acting up a couple weeks ago, but he’s “still hopeful” the lefty will be able to make his next scheduled start on Friday against the Rockies. However, it’s far from a given.
“He’s not any better,” said Roberts. “So we decided to fly him back [Wednesday]. Not pitching here in Milwaukee, as we look at the Friday start, to get him a couple days back home. Consult with the docs and see where to go from there. We’re still hopeful for Friday. We want to get him in the doctors’ hands, and they do what they can to figure out what’s going on. It’s been a few weeks that it started barking a little bit. Right now, we want to get some answers.”
More will obviously be known after Kershaw is examined, but this doesn’t appear to be something that will be a long-term injury. Worth noting is that Kershaw’s lone trip to the disabled list in his career was due to a back injury, although that was his upper back and it’s his lower back that’s the issue this time. Roberts was also quick to point out that the ailment is not related to a hip malady that has plagued Kershaw on occasion.
Kershaw did not throw his regular between-starts bullpen session on Tuesday. If he’s still unable to throw Wednesday, it’s very unlikely that he’d be cleared to take the ball Friday. Roberts said he was “not even thinking” about who might start in Kershaw’s place, but it would likely be Carlos Frias. He’d obviously have some big shoes to fill. Kershaw is in the midst of ridiculous season, having put up a 1.79 ERA, 0.73 WHIP and 145/9 K/BB ratio over 121 innings of work.
Dozier Doing Work
There’s something about June that fits Brian Dozier.
Dozier continued his monster month with a pair of home runs in Tuesday’s victory over the White Sox. He had a solo homer and a three-run shot against starter Jose Quintana also added an infield single, driving in all four of the game’s runs.
After batting an ugly .202/.294/.329 in the first two months of the season, Dozier has caught fire in June with a .361 average, seven home runs and 19 RBI across 25 games. Of course, the second baseman having a hot bat in June is nothing new.
Dozier entered Tuesday with a career .273/.361/.488 batting line with 22 homers and 62 RBI over 461 at-bats in the month of June. Those numbers across the board are easily career-bests and are only enhanced by his big showing against the White Sox.
Dozier has been a fantasy stud across the years with his ability to rack up counting stats. Even after a painfully slow start to this season, he’s suddenly on pace for 26 home runs, 77 RBI, 83 runs and 13 stolen bases.
National League Quick Hits: Zack Greinke departed Tuesday’s start against the Phillies after just two innings with a strained oblique … Stephen Strasburg (back) threw a successful bullpen session on Tuesday … Steven Matz (elbow) will have his next start pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday … Giancarlo Stanton went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI in Tuesday’s loss to the Tigers … Joc Pederson is listed as day-to-day after being diagnosed with a bruised AC joint in his right shoulder following a collision with the outfield wall Tuesday … Curtis Granderson left Tuesday’s loss to the Nationals with a minor calf injury … Lucas Giolito threw four scoreless innings in a rain-shortened major league debut in Tuesday’s win over the Mets … Joe Panik was scratched from Tuesday’s lineup with post-concussion symptoms and could be headed to the disabled list … Aledmys Diaz is expected to miss a few games until the swelling above his right eye subsides … Bryce Harper doubled and ripped a two-run homer on Tuesday against the Mets … Jon Lester held the Reds to one run over 7 1/3 innings on Tuesday … Matt Carpenter went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored in a victory over the Royals … Tyson Ross (shoulder) is on track to throw live batting practice over the weekend … DJ LeMahieu (knee) expects to return to the lineup on Wednesday … Lucas Duda (back) is still at least two weeks away from resuming baseball activities … Marcell Ozuna (wrist) had two hits in his return to action Tuesday … Jon Jay was placed on the disabled list with a broken right forearm … Brandon Crawford went 3-for-5 with five RBI in Tuesday’s loss to the A’s …
American League Quick Hits: The Rays placed closer Alex Colome (biceps) on the disabled list Tuesday … Yu Darvish (shoulder, neck) isn’t expected to rejoin the team’s rotation before the All-Star break … Lorenzo Cain had to depart Tuesday’s loss to the Cardinals with a strained hamstring … Carlos Beltran is considered day-to-day after an MRI on his hamstring came back negative … Carlos Correa went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and four RBI in Tuesday’s victory over the Angels … Travis Shaw went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI in Tuesday’s win over the Rays … Corey Kluber held the Braves to just two runs across eight innings in a victory Tuesday … Cole Hamels struck out seven across seven shutout frames in Tuesday’s victory over the Yankees … Felix Hernandez (calf) threw a bullpen session Tuesday … Kyle Gibson recorded seven strikeouts across seven shutout innings in Tuesday’s victory over the White Sox … Nick Castellanos went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run in Tuesday’s win over the Marlins … Chris Davis went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and a double in Tuesday’s win over the Padres … Rick Porcello struck out eight over six innings of one-run ball in a win over the Rays … Adrian Beltre went 3-for-5 with homer and three RBI in Tuesday’s win over the Yankees … Phil Hughes will undergo season-ending surgery next month to repair thoracic outlet syndrome … Lance McCullers will return to the Astros’ rotation on Monday versus the Mariners … Rich Hill (groin) will rejoin the Athletics’ rotation on Saturday against the Pirates … Yunel Escobar (knee) will remain sidelined until at least Friday … Nate Karns has been moved to the Mariners’ bullpen … Khris Davis went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and three runs scored in Tuesday’s win over the Giants …
