Kuzul

The Washington Nationals are on the verge of a playoff appearance, but a lingering injury to All-Star second baseman Daniel Murphy‘s buttocks could cause panic. 

Continue for updates.  

Nationals Briefly Shutting Murphy Down

Friday, Sept. 23

Per MLB.com’s Jamal Collier, an MRI revealed Murphy has a strain in his buttocks, and the Nationals are shutting him down for the next few days.

Murphy has not played in a game since September 20, only making a pinch-hit appearance in a 1-0 loss against the Miami Marlins while dealing with the injury. 

Murphy is having the best season of his career at the age of 31, leading the National League with a .596 slugging percentage and .987 OPS. He’s been a standout for the Nationals, who have needed his effort to offset a surprisingly down season for Bryce Harper. 

Murphy has been able to avoid major injuries this season after spending time on the disabled list in each of his last two seasons with the New York Mets. His breakout season does give the Nationals an anchor in the middle of the lineup, though they are fortunate to have more depth than in recent years. 

With Murphy out of the lineup, Trea Turner can shift to second base as he continues to also handle the outfield. He’s shown excellent promise in his initial exposure to major league pitching, so the Nationals should be optimistic he can hold down the fort.

Since the Nationals’ magic number to clinch the National League East is down to two, they can afford to be patient with Murphy and allow him to heal in order to be ready for the postseason. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard missed his scheduled start on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies due to a bout with strep throat. 

It is currently unclear when he’ll return to the mound. 

Continue for updates. 

Latest on Syndergaard’s Timeline for Return

Saturday, Sept. 24

Syndergaard threw a bullpen session on Saturday, and the Mets “remain hopeful” he’ll start on either Monday or Tuesday, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. 

Syndergaard Essential to Mets’ Rotation 

The Mets started Sean Gilmartin in place of Syndergaard on Saturday. 

Syndergaard’s dominance on the mound has been a source of both excitement and anxiety for Mets fans.

The 24-year-old is 13-9 with a 2.63 ERA through 29 starts. According to FanGraphs, his 10.60 strikeouts per nine innings are fourth among qualified starting pitchers.

Of course, even Thor has his vulnerabilities, and his impressive velocity is both a blessing and a curse. According to MLB.com’s Statcast data, his four-seam fastball averages 98.3 mph, while his sinker comes in at 98.0 mph.

Since he throws so hard, many fans wondered whether arm trouble would become an issue, and that’s what happened in June. He visited a doctor after experiencing elbow discomfort during his June 22 start against the Kansas City Royals. His July 8 start also ended abruptly after he started suffering arm fatigue.

New York has already lost Matt Harvey for the rest of the season, and it’s anybody’s guess as to how his thoracic outlet syndrome will affect his performance in 2017. 

Syndergaard is essential to the Mets making a run in the postseason if they get in, especially with the winner-take-all stakes in the wild-card matchup. Not having their No. 1 starter available for more than one start would alter their ability to advance if they make the playoffs.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Seattle Mariners announced they have suspended catcher Steve Clevenger without pay for the remainder of the regular season after he sent a series of offensive tweets Thursday.

“As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve Clevenger yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement Friday. “Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the remainder of the season without pay.”

In tweets that have since been deleted, Clevenger appeared to make references to the unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina, after a police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott.

“Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha s–t cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the Anthem!” he wrote, according to the Seattle Times‘ Matt Pentz.

The second tweet reportedly referenced the Black Lives Matter movement and President Barack Obama.

“BLM is pathetic once again,” Clevenger said. “Obama you are pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals.”

After Clevenger’s tweets made the rounds, he issued a statement of apology, as shared by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal:

“The Seattle Mariners are very disappointed at the tweets posted on Steve Clevenger’s account,” Dipoto said in a statement Thursday. “While he is certainly free to express himself, his tweets do not in any way represent the opinions of the Seattle Mariners. We strongly disagree with the language and tone of his comments.”

The 30-year-old is on the 60-day disabled list and hasn’t appeared in a game since June 29 after he fractured the third metacarpal in his right hand.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There is still an exciting month of playoff baseball separating us from what promises to be another busy offseason around the league, but it’s never too early to start looking ahead at how free agency might play out.

This year’s free-agent class is headlined by a number of notable bats.

Yoenis Cespedes, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo, Ian Desmond, Wilson Ramos, Neil Walker and Justin Turner are all headed for significant multiyear deals, while Martin Prado, Kendrys Morales, Matt Wieters, Mike Napoli, Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss should also garner plenty of interest.

The starting pitching side of things is a different story.

Rich Hill and Jeremy Hellickson are the top dogs among a starting pitching class that also features the likes of Andrew Cashner, Doug Fister, Ivan Nova and Bartolo Colon.

The deepest market is the relievers.

Three of the league’s elite closers in Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon will be available, along with guys like Neftali Feliz, Brad Ziegler, Sergio Romo, Joe Blanton and Travis Wood.

As a preview of sorts for the offseason ahead, what follows is a look at one realistic free-agent fit for all 30 MLB teams.

These projected fits are a mixture of notable re-signings and new additions and were reached with a combination of rumors from around the league and speculation on my part based on team needs and past free-agency trends.

Obviously, a lot can change between now and the start of free agency. For now, here’s a look ahead at some potential offseason free-agency fits.

Begin Slideshow

There’s a saying in baseball: “A team never wants to lead the league in meetings.”

The implication being that when a club holds a meeting, it’s almost universally to discuss what is going wrong and how to repair it. But teams rarely find themselves where the Chicago Cubs stand, having already clinched the NL Central and preparing for the playoffs.

Manager Joe Maddon had three scheduled meetings on the books in the past few days, two of which were to answer a question most playoff-bound franchises would love to ponder: Which of his three starters—Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester or Kyle Hendricks—should be the team’s ace, trusted to start Game 1 of the postseason?

Deciding between that trio is like being forced to choose between five-star resorts. Because when you put together a list of baseball’s best starting pitchers in 2016, all three are on it.

“It’s what you make of it, and to me, it’s a lot better than having to push your guys extra hard and put more innings on guys’ arms and not getting enough rest and, maybe, waking up and being worn down,” Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said.

Who is the most deserving of the three? The answer is all of them because it depends on which filter you examine the question through.

Hendricks leads MLB with a 2.06 ERA, but Lester comes in at No. 2 (2.36) and Arrieta No. 9 (2.96). Arrieta is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner and had a .185 batting average against, which is the lowest of the trio. Lester and Hendricks come in at .211 and .201 respectively.

According to FanGraphs, Lester and Hendricks are tied with 4.1 WAR and Arrieta trails with 3.5.

If all that makes the issue more confusing, good. It should. These are the statistical measures the Cubs—and fans who are formulating their opinions on the matter—must consider.

Given how close all three stand statistically, experience likely will—and should be—the deciding factor. Lester is by far the most seasoned in the group with 14 career postseason starts. Hendricks and Arrieta both got their first tastes of the playoffs last year, though the latter threw a complete-game shutout in the NL Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

But even if Lester, the only pitcher among the three who has won a World Series, seems like the obvious choice, Maddon offered this among the criteria the organization will consider: “A lot of it has to do with whom the opposition is, also who is pitching best for you at the moment. You can’t deny that.”

If you don’t deny it, the decision becomes even harder.

In the month of September, only Arrieta has struggled, posting a 4.15 ERA over three starts. Lester (0.58 in four starts) and Hendricks (1.80 in three starts) have been outstanding. 

After Wednesday’s action, the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets all stood tied in the wild-card standings. Two will play in a one-game playoff, with the winner facing the Cubs, the presumptive favorite to win home-field advantage in the NL playoffs.

Consider their numbers against each opponent:

Note: The Mets are 29th in runs scored (595), 28th in batting average (.242) and 26th in on-base percentage (.311).

Based on that data, which is limited in some cases, it’s reasonable to consider Arrieta the team’s best candidate to start against San Francisco. The Cubs should go with Lester if they face the Cardinals and Hendricks if they draw the Mets.

But one benefit Chicago does not have is waiting to see which team it will face.

“You’ve got to have some idea by the end of the season because you want to work guys in toward the end of the year so they’re not so long before their next start,” Maddon said.

So not only is their decision based on evaluating the three pitchers but also trying to prognosticate which of the three teams the Cubs may face in the NLDS—a futile task.

And as numerous factors, permutations, formulas and statistics are considered, there may only be one obvious answer to the question at hand.

No choice appears to be a bad one.

All statistics current through the conclusion of Wednesday’s games.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The marathon MLB season has been reduced to a sprint. For the clubs still in the hunt, every game matters—a lot.

For Bleacher Report’s MLB Team of the Week, on the other hand, all that matters is the recent past.

Here are 10 players—one per position, including a pitcher and designated hitter—who’ve busted box scores over the past seven days.

To qualify, a player needs to have made at least two starts at the position in question, or one start in the case of pitchers.

And while this is primarily about individual output, we dole out bonus points for gaudy stats that led to ticks in the win column.

Limber up your commenting muscles, slap some pine tar off your proverbial helmet and proceed when ready.

Begin Slideshow

If the season ended Thursday, the Detroit Tigers would own the American League‘s second wild-card slot.

And they’d be one dangerous wild card.

After sweeping a doubleheader from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, Detroit sits at 82-70, a half-game up on the Baltimore Orioles (82-71) and one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays (83-69) in the WC scramble. 

The Tigers have won four straight and will play seven of their final 10 games at home. Their offense is clicking. And they have resurgent ace Justin Verlander ready to pitch in the do-or-die Wild Card Game.

Let’s start with Verlander. The 2011 AL Cy Young Award and MVP winner posted a plus-4.00 ERA in 2014 and logged just 133.1 innings last season, all while battling injuries.

The signs were pointing ominously toward a career on the downslope.

In 2016, he’s regained his Cy Young-caliber form. He allowed two earned runs in six innings with 11 strikeouts in the Game 2 win Thursday and now owns a 3.21 ERA with a Junior Circuit-pacing 234 punchouts in 213 frames. He’s been especially excellent since the All-Star break, posting an AL-best 2.16 ERA.

A great pitcher on an equally great run—that’s precisely who you want on the mound with the everything on the line.

That assumes two things: First, that the Tigers will punch a postseason ticket. Second, that they’ll be able to line up Verlander for the Wild Card Game.

As Evan Woodbery of MLive.com pointed out, “Verlander is currently slated to start on the final game in the season in Atlanta. If the Tigers have clinched a playoff spot by that time, he could be skipped. If they get into a [must]-win game one day earlier, perhaps he could pitch on short rest.” 

If Detroit does return to the October stage after missing the dance in 2015, Verlander won’t be the only reason.

The offense ranks fourth in the AL with a .760 OPS. Miguel Cabrera is hitting .307 with 34 home runs. J.D. Martinez has a .928 OPS and has been an unsung second-half hero. Victor Martinez (.288 average, 25 home runs) and Ian Kinsler (.277 average, 26 home runs) have done their thing.

After a dispiriting start, Justin Upton is finally living up to the six-year, $132.75 million deal he signed with Detroit this winter. He went deep Thursday and has four homers and nine RBI in his last six games.

The rotation isn’t all about Verlander, either. Michael Fulmer is the favorite to take home AL Rookie of the Year honors. The Tigers have notched a victory the last five times 23-year-old Daniel Norris took the ball. And 25-year-old Matt Boyd twirled an eight-inning gem in his most recent turn Sept. 20.

“We wouldn’t be here if those three guys weren’t pitching the way they are,” manager Brad Ausmus said of his young arms, per Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.

On the other hand, veteran Anibal Sanchez owns a 5.77 ERA, and free-agent pickup Jordan Zimmermann is working his way back from a neck strain.

Add a bullpen that sports a 4.08 ERA, and it’s safe to say the burden will fall on Verlander and the lineup if the Tigers hope to make a deep run.

That said, the American League is wide open. Every contender is flawed. 

The Cleveland Indians, who lead Detroit by seven games in the AL Central, have an injury-depleted starting rotation. It’s almost certainly too late for the Tigers to catch them. But they could hang in a playoff series, just as they could hang with the AL West-leading Texas Rangers and their pedestrian plus-nine run differential. The same goes for the AL East gaggle, though the Boston Red Sox appear to be putting it together at the right time.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, of course. The Tigers haven’t wrapped up anything. This will likely go down to the wire.

If they do, though, and if they can find a way to put Verlander on the slab with Cabrera and Co. behind him, look out. It’s worth noting that neither the Jays nor the O’s—Detroit’s two closest competitors for wild-card position—have a transcendent, shutdown ace.

Verlander has been under the autumn glare before, logging 98.1 playoff innings scattered over five seasons with a 3.39 ERA and 112 strikeouts.

“I like pitching in big games,” Verlander said, per Fenech. “I always have.”

If the Tigers can keep their claws in for another week-plus, he may well get the chance.

All statistics current as of Thursday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Seattle Mariners catcher Steve Clevenger has been suspended for controversial tweets he posted regarding the civil unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina. The team announced the punishment on Friday. 

Jon Humbert of KOMO 4 shared a screen cap of two tweets from the catcher (warning: tweets contain NSFW language):

Mariners general manager and executive vice president Jerry DiPoto released a statement on the situation, per Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports provided a statement from Clevenger, via Facebook:

Clevenger’s tweets and the protests in Charlotte followed the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man who was shot and killed by police officers who were looking for someone else with an outstanding warrant Tuesday, per FoxNews.com.

According to WSOCTV.com, nine civilians and five officers have been hurt in the subsequent demonstrations, and Gov. Pat McCrory has declared a state of emergency.

Another black man, Terence Crutcher, was shot and killed by police within the same week. Crutcher’s death occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday.

Nick Carboni of WCNC.com noted that the NFL and Carolina Panthers are monitoring the situation in Charlotte but still plan on playing the team’s scheduled home game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Charlotte Hornets owner and all-time NBA great Michael Jordan released a statement offering condolences to the Scott family and asking the Charlotte community to come together:

In light of the tragic events of the past three days, it is more important than ever that we restore calm and come together, as a community, in peaceful demonstration and conversation, and in constructive and non-violent ways. As part of the fabric of Charlotte, the Hornets organization is committed to working with civic leaders, our elected leaders and law enforcement to foster more trust, transparency and understanding so we can heal and grow together as a community.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has generated plenty of headlines and discussion with his own form of peaceful demonstration by kneeling during the national anthem before his team takes the field as a way of protesting racial injustice in the United States.

As for Clevenger, he is slashing .221/.303/.309 with one home run and seven RBI this season but is on the 60-day disabled list because of a broken hand.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

New York Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro has not appeared in a game since Sept. 17 because of a hamstring injury, and it’s unclear when he will return to the field.

Continue for updates.

Castro Out vs. Blue Jays

Friday, Sept. 23

The Yankees announced Castro was not in the starting lineup against Toronto on Friday.

Latest on Castro’s Timeline for Return

Thursday, Sept. 22

Manager Joe Girardi said he could take the field again this season, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

Castro Playing Major Part in Yankees’ Offensive Surge

This is Castro’s first season with the Yankees after playing his initial six years at the MLB level with the Chicago Cubs. He is slashing .273/.304/.439 with 21 home runs and 69 RBI in 146 games and has provided a power surge for the Bronx Bombers considering his career-high home run total entering the 2016 campaign was 14 (2012 and 2014).

The Yankees will likely turn toward Ronald Torreyes until Castro is ready to return. Torreyes has appeared in 63 games this year and is slashing .271/.322/.391 with one homer. The Yankees also have Donovan Solano, who is in his first year with Yankees after four seasons with the Miami Marlins. However, he has only appeared in three games in 2016 and is there more for depth purposes.

The Yankees can at least take solace knowing they have replacements available, but neither of them provide the presence in the order that Castro does on a daily basis.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has suffered a flexor mass injury, Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

Continue for updates.

Tanaka to Miss Monday’s Start

Thursday, Sept. 22

Feinsand reported Tanaka, who will miss his scheduled start Monday, won’t throw for five days as he recovers from the injury.

This is another setback for the injury-prone pitcher, which is particularly worrisome for a Yankees team that’s relying on him to be the ace of the staff as it fights for a postseason berth.

He underwent elbow surgery in October 2015 to remove a bone spur and was on the disabled list from April 23 to June 3 last season with right wrist tendinitis and a forearm strain. He missed another start down the stretch in September 2015 because of a strained right hamstring.

Tanaka could have had surgery after suffering a partially torn elbow ligament in 2014, but he decided against it.

The right-hander tallied 24 starts in 2015, posting a 12-7 record, a 3.51 ERA, and 139 strikeouts in 154 innings. He also finished with an impressive 0.99 WHIP and 3.1 WAR, according to ESPN.com. In 2016, he’s 14-4 with a 3.07 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP and 165 strikeouts in 199.2 innings pitched.

While injuries have prevented him from living up to the astronomical hype that surrounded him when New York signed him before the 2014 campaign, he is the anchor of the Yankees pitching staff when healthy. He has struggled to keep the ball in the park, allowing 62 home runs in his first three seasons, but his 1.08 WHIP makes the ace valuable at the front end of the rotation.

New York will have to rely on pitchers such as Michael Pineda and CC Sabathia in the meantime. It also has a formidable bullpen with pieces such as Adam Warren and Dellin Betances to help shorten games until Tanaka is ready to return.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com