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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain exited his start against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning Friday after suffering a hamstring injury, and the team has subsequently placed him on the disabled list. It’s unclear when he will return.

Continue for updates.

Latest on Cain’s Playing Status

Saturday, May 28

Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News reported the Giants recalled Chris Stratton from Triple-A and placed Cain on the disabled list.

Injuries Slowing Cain Late in Career

Cain was once a pillar of consistency. Between 2006 and 2013, he made an average of 32 starts and pitched 209 innings per season. But he started just 26 games in 2014 and 2015 combined.

In August 2014, Cain had bone chips removed from his right elbow, and the recovery process affected his preparation for the 2015 season. Compounding his bad luck, he then suffered a right flexor tendon strain, which delayed his first start of the year to July 2.

Giants fans likely wondered whether this was going to be another one of those seasons after doctors removed a cyst from Cain’s throwing arm in February. However, the right-hander had remained injury-free until Friday.

Leaving aside his health issues, it’s fair to wonder how good Cain can be at this point in his career. His ERA climbed to 4.00 for the first time in seven years in 2013, and his next two campaigns were worse. He had a 4.18 ERA in 2014 and a 5.79 ERA in 2015.

Through nine starts in 2016, he is 1-5 with a 5.37 ERA.

After Cain finished sixth in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2012, it looked as though he could become the ace of the San Francisco staff. But that hasn’t happened.

As Cain will miss his next few starts, manager Bruce Bochy might reinsert Chris Heston in the rotation. Heston made four appearances out of the bullpen in April before being demoted, but he made 31 starts last year, going 12-11 with a 3.95 ERA.

Clayton Blackburn could be another option after he put together a strong season in Triple-A in 2015.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are calling up pitcher Julio Urias to make his MLB debut Friday against the New York Mets, the team announced Thursday.

Urias will step in for Alex Wood, whose start has been pushed back to Monday due to left triceps soreness, per Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider.

Weisman noted that Urias, at 19 years and 289 days old, will be “the youngest Major League pitcher since Felix Hernandez’s 2005 season with Seattle, the youngest Dodger pitcher since Fernando Valenzuela made his debut as a reliever in 1980 and the youngest Dodger starting pitcher since Dick Calmus on August 23, 1963.”

Urias has been excellent at Triple-A Oklahoma City, going 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 41 innings this season. According to MLB Pipeline, he is the top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball and both the No. 2 pitcher and player overall.

He hasn’t given up a run in 27 straight innings in Triple-A ball, according to Weisman.

While Urias will earn the start Friday, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com believes the team will ultimately move him to the bullpen this season “to limit his innings,” noting that he’s never exceeded 87.2 innings pitched in his previous three professional seasons.

Urias is considered the Dodgers’ best pitching prospect since Clayton Kershaw. Moving him along slowly and not pushing his innings this season is a wise move, making his transition to a relief role inevitable. Even in limited innings, Urias will have the chance to prove the hype is justified and that he can be a dominant starter in the years to come.

He may also improve, at least temporarily, a starting pitching staff that has been touch-and-go behind Kershaw this season.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter. 

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Even without a career that includes six All-Star appearances, four Silver Sluggers and three seasons in which he finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting, Chase Utley would forever remain in the baseball lexicon.

All because of one play.

Utley became infamous when he launched himself toward second base in Game 2 of last year’s National League Division Series, breaking the leg of New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada leg but preventing a double play. This offseason, MLB legislated that kind of violent action out of the game, adopting what is known as the “Utley Rule.”

The ultra-competitive, highly controversial play was thought to mark the end of an otherwise stellar career. That is, until Utley, thought to be dead weight on a talented Los Angeles Dodgers roster, trotted out to second base this season.

Nearly two months into the MLB season, not only is Utley a crucial part of the Dodgers lineup, but he’s also proved that his latter years may yield some great baseball.

After a horrendous 2015 campaign in which he hit .212/.286/.343, Utley signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers. With the goal of chasing one final October, it seemed the 37-year-old was clinging to a talented team with World Series aspirations. That’s not an uncommon storyline for a star player nearing the end of his career.

Utley is hitting .289/.379/.408 this season. Those numbers are better than his 14-year career average of .281/.365/.477. As of Thursday, Utley’s WAR of 1.4 ranked seventh among all second basemen, according to FanGraphs.

He isn‘t writing the epilogue to his career, but an entirely new chapter.

It’s an unexpected turn of a events, given that a Philadelphia Phillies team beginning to rebuild traded him, with cash, to the Dodgers last year.

Think of it this way: Philadelphia had to pay Los Angeles to take him.

Apparently, the Phillies were right to do so. In his 34-game stint with the Dodgers last season, Utley hit .202/.291/.363. His one-year deal this season—worth $7 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts—was a low-risk move for the Dodgers. They took a flier.

For most teams, that much money is significant. But the Dodgers, with their mega-television contract, probably carry that kind of dough in petty cash.

Anything Utley does to help them win this season is a bonus, like ice cream on top of a brownie. But as it turns out, he was a necessary ingredient.

Given the talent in Los Angeles, the team’s struggles are as surprising as Utley’s success. The Dodgers rank 20th in batting average (.240) and 19th in on-base percentage (.313).

Utley ranks first on the team in batting average and OBP and fourth in slugging.

What’s most impressive is that Utley is doing all this while playing his home games at Dodger Stadium, which ranks last in MLB in park factor, according to ESPN.com.

Credit a different approach at the plate for an uptick in Utley’s offensive numbers. According to FanGraphs, 26.9 percent of the balls he has hit have been line drives, a career high. Only 24.4 percent of balls hit by Utley are fly balls, a career low.

While many players hit well in their twilight years, age has generally been a detriment to their performance in the field.

Utley, though, ranks sixth among second basemen at 2.8 defensive runs above average, according to FanGraphs. His 2.2 ultimate zone rating ranks him seventh among those at his position.

To some extent, Utley is the last of a disappearing breed: a group of players who ran the bases with reckless abandon, aiming to win at all costs.

But in this new era of the Utley Rule, he has reinvented himself, and his career appears far from over.

He isn‘t clinging to a talented Dodgers roster, hoping to hang on for the ride.

Surprisingly, Utley is among those at the wheel.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Talk baseball with Seth by following him on Twitter and liking his Facebook page.

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Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was removed from the team’s 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night, and a perceived lack of effort was the reasoning provided by manager Dave Roberts.

According to Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times, the 25-year-old Cuban was yanked after getting only a single on a ball he hit off the wall.

Per Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet LA, Roberts believed Puig would have ended up with a double had he not admired his hit:

After the game, Puig agreed with his manager’s decision, according to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

Puig often found himself in the doghouse during Don Mattingly’s tenure as the Dodgers manager, and he can’t seem to shake that status even with Roberts now in charge.

The talented slugger has had an up-and-down season thus far, hitting .247 with five home runs and 19 RBI for a Dodgers team that has struggled to remain above .500.

He burst onto the scene in 2013, hitting .319 with 19 home runs in 104 games and finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting before being named an All-Star the following season.

The past two campaigns haven’t gone nearly as well for Puig, though, and his status as one of baseball’s top rising stars has deteriorated.

Puig is under contract for two more seasons beyond 2016 before becoming arbitration-eligible in 2019, per Spotrac.com.

That means he is entrenched unless the Dodgers consummate a trade, but doing so may not be easy due to a sharp decline in value and the perception that he may not be a team player.

Puig’s understanding of Roberts’ decision showed some maturity and growth, but until he proves capable of playing the game the right way on a consistent basis, it may be difficult for Roberts to fully trust him.

That would be much easier if he was displaying All-Star form, but Puig has been largely ordinary, and he can ill afford to be anything less than a true professional if he wants to maintain his spot in the lineup.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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Not even the best young ballplayers can escape humility forever. For proof, look no further than the wall Corey Seager hit in his first April as a major leaguer.

But Seager must have gotten his fill of humility, because now he’s looking more like the player the Los Angeles Dodgers and everyone else expected him to be.

The Dodgers have only slightly recovered from a rough April in May, as their 11-10 record has them at just 23-23 overall for the season. A major bright side, though, has been the emergence of Seager as one of the best players in their lineup.

After a slow start, the 22-year-old has turned things around like so:

Per ultimate zone rating, Seager has also been playing quality defense at shortstop. Add that to what he’s been doing at the dish, and he rates as the Dodgers’ best position player in May.

Widen the area of focus, and you’ll also see Kyle Seager’s younger brother ranks as one of the top 10 position players in the entire National League over that span. And even though he’s just starting to get going, it’s already arguable that he’s the Senior Circuit’s top rookie.

Based on what’s in the book on Seager, this was probably inevitable. He was a .307 career hitter with an .891 OPS in the minors, and he debuted in the majors to the tune of a .337 average and .986 OPS last September. That helped earn him the top spot in all the major prospect rankings.

Seager getting back on track, however, has required him to live up to the specifics of the book on him.

Upon first glance, it doesn’t look like Seager’s approach has changed for the better. Relative to earlier, he’s recently been walking less (8.3 BB% to 7.0 BB%) and striking out more (14.7 K% to 16.3 K%). Numbers like those won’t do him any favors in the Ben Zobrist Lookalike Sweepstakes.

But there are times when first glances are about as deceiving as a Kenley Jansen cut fastball. This is one of those.

After beginning the year with a slightly wild approach, Seager has become more selective (Swing%) with his swings while cutting down on his expansion of the strike zone (O-Swing%) and making more contact (Contact%): 

The more controlled approach Seager has been using recently is an accurate reflection of his true self. As Keith Law of ESPN.com wrote in February, Seager’s ability to recognize pitches and make frequent adjustments gives him an approach well beyond his years. That’s what he’s been showing off.

As for why it took him a month to get around to hitting, it could be because he was pressing in an attempt to live up to his reputation as The Next Big Thing™. Or, maybe he needed time to find his bearings against tougher competition than he faced in his first exposure to the majors. September is a time of watered-down rosters, after all.

“Corey is learning the league,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said recently, per Jack Baer of MLB.com. “I think that he’s been a little more patient and just getting good pitches to hit. With the strength that he has and the swing that he has, if he gets a strike, he’s going to do some things.”

On that note, let’s now look at an example of the things Seager has been doing when he’s gotten good pitches to hit. Delight your senses with the highlights of his first career two-homer game:

Here, the lefty swinger is illustrating the platonic ideal of power hitting: an outside pitch driven out to left and an inside pitch pulled out to right.

After Seager put on that display, even St. Louis Cardinals skipper Mike Matheny admitted he was taken aback, per Mark Saxon of ESPN.com: 

This leads us to the other defining aspect of Seager’s turnaround. According to Baseball Savant, he’s gone from struggling with his exit velocity to making all sorts of loud noises when his bat finds the ball:

• First 25 games: 88.4 mph
• Next 19 games: 93.3 mph

Seager hasn’t quite been the hardest hitter in the league since he started wielding a fiery bat. He’s up there, though, and the list of names behind him includes batted-ball luminaries like Josh Donaldson, Miguel Cabrera, Manny Machado, Carlos Correa and Yoenis Cespedes.

Because no obvious mechanical adjustments stick out on video, this may simply be owed to good health. Nobody official has said as much, but it’s possible Seager wasn’t fully recovered from a left knee sprain he suffered in spring training when the season opened. Once again having a strong back leg in the box would lead to more pop.

Whatever the case, the power Seager is displaying should not be written off as a fluke.

Though he wasn’t known for his power in the minors, Seager’s 6’4″, 215-pound frame makes him bigger and stronger than most shortstops. Between that and an uppercut swing that allows him to get under the ball, it would have been a bigger surprise if he didn’t start crushing eventually.

I am (or might as well be) contractually obligated to note Seager’s trendline won’t continue upward forever. Just because he’s found his footing doesn’t mean he’s never going to slip again. There’s always another slick floor just around the corner in the baseball world.

Nonetheless, Seager’s play in recent weeks makes it that much easier to understand why many were so excited about him coming into 2016. After offering a sneak peek at his star potential in 2015, they all said it was likely just a matter of time before he realized his star potential in 2016.

They can be wrong about such things, but this time, they were right.

Stats are updated through games played on May 22 and are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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San Francisco Giants outfielder Angel Pagan left Monday’s win after suffering a hamstring strain. He was placed on the disabled list on Tuesday, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to the field.

Continue for updates.

Pagan Announce Pagan’s Replacement 

Tuesday, May 24

The Giants announced that they placed Pagan on the DL with a left hamstring strain and recalled outfielder Jarrett Parker from Triple-A Sacramento.

Pagan Set for MRI

Monday, May 23

Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reported Pagan will undergo an MRI.

“There is some concern because it is the same hamstring,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, per Baggarly.

Pagan’s Absence is Significant Blow to Giants Depth

RotoWire (via CBS Sports) noted Pagan’s hamstring forced him to miss a May 21 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

The outfielder finished 0-for-3 with a walk Monday before exiting the game with the hamstring concerns. Coming into the contest, he was hitting .282 with two home runs, 13 RBI, five steals and a .734 OPS.

Pagan has never been much of a power threat, recording only one season in his career with double-digit home run totals, but he is solid on the basepaths (he stole 29-plus bases in three seasons in a row from 2010 to 2012) and sports a .280 career batting average and .330 career on-base percentage.

The Giants will miss his ability to set the stage for the sluggers in the middle of the order by getting on base if he is forced to miss extensive time.

Brandon Belt moved to left field after Pagan exited Monday, while Conor Gillaspie took over at first base for Belt. San Francisco can turn to Belt with Pagan out since the former is a dangerous offensive threat who is fresh off a breakout performance in 2015 with a .280 batting average and career-best marks of 18 home runs and 68 RBI.

The Giants also have veteran Gregor Blanco as a potential candidate to fill in since he is versatile enough to play all three outfield positions. Blanco hit .291 last season and flashed his impressive speed with 13 stolen bases.

While Belt and Blanco give the Giants some reliable options if Pagan is out, they are also needed at other positions (Belt is a first baseman, and Blanco can play everywhere in the outfield). San Francisco sits in first place in the National League West and could use a healthy Pagan as it chases a postseason spot.

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The San Diego Padres apologized to the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus on Sunday after investigating an incident where a prerecording played over their scheduled national anthem appearance Saturday:  

After a thorough examination of the events that occurred during last night’s National Anthem, we have concluded our internal investigation and have found no evidence of malicious intent on the part of any individuals involved. Based both on the unintentional mistake that was made, as well as the failure to immediately intervene and correct the situation by those who had oversight, we have terminated our relationship with the third-party contractor who was responsible for the error, and taken disciplinary action against our employee who was responsible for the game production on Saturday.

The organization drew criticism Saturday when a prerecorded version of a woman singing the national anthem played over stadium speakers. No one in the game operations department corrected the error, so the prerecording continued as the men stood on the field.

“We once again sincerely apologize to members of the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, their families and those who came out to support their Pride Night performance,” the Padres’ statement read. “The Padres organization is proud of our long-standing commitment to inclusion—within both our sport and our community. We deeply regret that a mistake on our part has called this into question, but accept full responsibility.”

MLB spokesman Pat Courtney told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that the league will investigate the incident to “determine whether there was intent on the part of the club.”

Members of the chorus said they were embarrassed by the situation and hoped it wasn’t done to be hurtful.

“We were just excited to be at a game and let the audience see us and hear us and let us know that we’re sports fans too, and we’re normal guys,” RC Haus, artistic director for the chorus, told Kirk Kenney and Deborah Sullivan Brennan of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “And then a woman sings over us, and it was mortifying.”

San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus executive director Bob Lehman was more critical, highlighting in a statement what he felt were slights by the Padres organization leading up to the game. Lehman said the team attempted to force chorus members to pay for their tickets rather than let them in for free. The Padres later rescinded the request, which “was not part of any previous discussion or written or verbal agreement and would have cost the small, community-based nonprofit thousands of dollars,” according to Lehman.

In reference to the prerecording playing, Lehman told Kenney and Brennan, “I really want to believe that it was an error. But the first thought was, ‘Did they do this on purpose?'”

The team has invited the chorus for a return performance. It’s unclear at this time if the chorus will accept.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter

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The San Francisco Giants were coming up short for a while there. After going into 2016 amid loads of hype, they were under .500 as recently as May 10.

But all of a sudden, the Giants are making it look suspiciously like an even year.

It took a confrontation with reigning Cy Young winner/freak of nature Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs Friday at AT&T Park to snap the Giants’ eight-game win streak. But they got right back in the proverbial driver’s seat Saturday, beating the Cubs 5-3 to run their record to 26-19. 

That’s one bit of good news for the Giants. The other bit of good news is that an old standby is beginning to resemble his old self for the first time in a long time.

Matt Cain was the Giants’ biggest contributor in Saturday’s win, clubbing a two-run double and stifling the Cubs’ high-powered offense with six one-run innings. That’s now three strong starts in a row for the veteran right-hander, as he allowed only three runs across 15 innings in his previous two. 

Like that, an ERA that was a problematic 7.84 is now down to a considerably less problematic 5.37. And quite possibly even falling further.

There’s certainly no ignoring that Cain’s recent travels have been fraught with peril. He was terrific (and literally perfect one time) in posting a 2.93 ERA between 2009 and 2012, but he managed just a 4.37 ERA and struggled with injuries between 2013 and 2015. After having surgery on his arm during spring training and then getting off to a slow start, it seemed like 2016 was going to bring more of the same.

Things seem different now. Asked to explain what Cain has found in his last couple of outings, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy theorized the big change has been a mental one.

“His bullpens have been fine, and his pregame warm-ups,” Bochy said after Cain silenced the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 15, per Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group. “In the game, it just wasn’t going well for him. I think he’s realizing, ‘Hey, I’m fine, and my stuff is great. I’m healthy.’ It’s all about the confidence now that he’s settled in with.”

The most noticeable difference is in how aggressively Cain is going right at hitters. He was throwing first-pitch strikes 62.1 percent of the time in his first six outings. He upped that to 70.7 in his next two and kept it going with first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 25 Cubs (72 percent) he faced Saturday.

That’s one way to snap out of a slump, but it never hurts to also have better stuff. Though data for Saturday’s outing isn’t available yet, Baseball Savant reveals that Cain’s average spin rates this season break down like so:

• First 6 GS: 2,437 rpm
• Next 2 GS: 2,526 rpm

It’s going to take more than just three starts for a definitive conclusion to form, but Cain’s resurgence doesn’t appear to be well-timed good luck playing a trick on the Giants. He’s pitching like a guy who wants to be a weapon again.

And at the thought of that, you can almost hear the rest of the National League letting out a groan.

For the competition, the thought of the Giants having another weapon in their starting rotation alone is distressing enough. This is, after all, one of only two rotations in the league that features three qualified starters with ERAs 2.70 or under.

That’s the trio of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. The Giants knew what they were going to get from Bumgarner this year, and they’ve gotten even more than they bargained $220 million for out of Cueto and Samardzija. They’ve been worth every penny and then some.

“They’re definitely the catalyst,” right fielder Hunter Pence said this week of the club’s star-studded rotation, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. “It makes you look really good when your starting pitching is doing that kind of exceptional work. It’s not to be taken lightly but enjoyed.”

The Giants lineup isn’t too shabby in its own right. All the key figures from an offense that finished fourth in the National League in OPS in 2015 are back. And though the 2016 offense has been guilty of starting and stopping, it could soon get going for good. Pence and Brandon Belt are having terrific seasons, and Brandon Crawford and Denard Span are showing signs of life.

So is Buster Posey. After narrowly missing a home run Friday, he definitely didn’t miss against Jon Lester in Saturday’s game:

Where things aren’t all happiness and sunshine is in the Giants bullpen. Following yet another home run served up by Santiago Casilla, it now has a 4.01 ERA that ranks in the bottom half of the league.

It’s a bit soon to say the sky is falling, though.

The Giants bullpen’s collective ERA is skewed by some especially bad performances by Vin Mazzaro, Chris Heston and Mike Broadway. With a 2.04 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 17.2 innings, even Casilla is doing well despite the home runs. And with Chris Haft of MLB.com reporting right-hander Sergio Romo is close to returning from a strained flexor tendon, the Giants bullpen is about to get a key piece back.

That is to say, the Giants may not be far from pretty much having it all. Cain’s return to effectiveness means their rotation is about more than just its three best guys. The starters are backed by an offense with plenty of potential and a bullpen that could soon be stabilized. 

As it is, the coming-together process the Giants are undertaking has already been good enough to put them atop the NL West. Coming into the year, that’s where they expected to be sooner or later.

And from the looks of things, they mean to stay there.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have gotten off to a slow start this season, so an injury to Adrian Gonzalez‘s back is not what their lineup needed to see. The first baseman suffered the injury on Monday, and it’s unclear when he’ll return to the field. 

Continue for updates. 

Gonzalez Out vs. Angels

Tuesday, May 17

The Dodgers announced Gonzalez won’t play Tuesday against their Los Angeles counterparts. 

Reliable Gonzalez Crucial to Dodgers Offense 

Gonzalez is one of Major League Baseball’s most durable players, appearing in at least 156 games every season since 2006. He’s also one of the Dodgers’ most valuable offensive weapons, leading the team in homers and RBI each of the last three years. 

The Dodgers’ All-Star first baseman was banged up down the stretch last season, having been taken out of the lineup during a series against the Colorado Rockies due to back problems.

It was a lingering problem that’s altered Gonzalez’s performance in the second half of 2015, as his slugging percentage dropped nearly 100 points in the second half. That drop in power has continued into this season, with the former All-Star slugging .408 percent coming into Monday, but he’s still hitting for average and getting on base. 

The Dodgers don’t have a deep lineup around Gonzalez, though Chase Utley has been surprisingly strong so far and rookie Corey Seager is slowly coming into his own. 

The Dodgers are facing stiff competition in the National League West, as San Francisco and Arizona made big improvements in the offseason, so losing a hitter as consistent and reliable as Gonzalez alters the division’s dynamic.

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The MLB announcement Friday said Jose Reyes can come back to the major leagues on June 1.

Too bad it’s not June 1, 2011.

Reyes had real value then, as a .335 hitter and a speedy shortstop who was one of the game’s most exciting players. Five years on, he’s no longer speedy or exciting, a decline that started before the domestic-violence incident that led to the 52-game suspension that will run out at the end of May.

Oh, and he has a contract that will pay him another $22 million in 2017 and includes a $4 million buyout option for 2018. 

He’s property of the Colorado Rockies for now, but in rookie Trevor Story, they have a shortstop they actually like. Word is they have no use for Reyes, and that they didn’t even before he was arrested last October for allegedly assaulting his wife in a Hawaii hotel room.

As ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark tweeted after the suspension was announced:

The Rockies took on Reyes last July, only because it enabled them to save about $50 million of what they owed Troy Tulowitzki and add much-needed pitching prospects in the process. The Toronto Blue Jays were happy to move Reyes, whose offense had become nearly nonexistent and whose defense was worse.

Reyes had little value then, at age 32. He has even less value now, as he approaches his 33rd birthday on June 11.

ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweeted Friday morning that there were teams “interested” in dealing for Reyes, although he later clarified that by saying the Rockies would need to eat much of the money left on the contract.

Fair enough. Anyone can be traded, if you structure the deal right. If the Rockies eat much of the money and include a prospect or a draft pick, perhaps a rebuilding team like the Atlanta Braves would bite.

The Braves have big-time shortstop prospects, but their stopgap solution of using Erick Aybar at the position this year has been a disaster. The Braves’ combined OPS from the shortstop position (.429) is nearly 100 points lower than the next-worst team, per FanGraphs.

As for the other teams struggling for offense at shortstop, the Los Angeles Angels expect Andrelton Simmons to come back (and just added Brendan Ryan as a stopgap), and the Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers both have defense-first shortstops they like (Adeiny Hechavarria and Jose Iglesias).

Reyes wouldn’t be an improvement, just as he wouldn’t be an improvement over Story, who has 11 home runs and three triples and is one of the early leaders in the National League Rookie of the Year race.

If he’s cheap enough, Reyes might have some value as a utility guy, but do you want him in your clubhouse if he’s not playing regularly?

The Rockies haven’t had to deal with Reyes so far this year, because baseball put him on paid leave while investigating the domestic-violence incident. In a statement released Friday announcing the 52-game suspension, Commissioner Rob Manfred said the investigation took this long because of criminal charges in Hawaii, which were later dismissed when Reyes’ wife declined to cooperate.

In Friday’s announcement, MLB made Reyes’ unpaid suspension retroactive to Feb. 23, meaning he’ll have to repay the salary he has already received this season. In all, he’ll lose just over $7 million of the $22 million he was due in 2016.

Manfred’s statement said Reyes has committed to treatment and also to contribute $100,000 to one or more charitable organizations focused on preventing and treating survivors of domestic violence.

Reyes also released a statement Friday that said he wanted to “apologize for everything that has happened.” He showed more contrition than Aroldis Chapman, who has continued to maintain he did nothing wrong in the domestic-violence incident that led to his own 30-game suspension, per Billy Witz of the New York Times.

Chapman, despite the incident, has been welcomed with open arms by the New York Yankees and by Yankee fans. A few 100 mph fastballs were all it took.

Reyes can’t throw 100 mph, nor can he hit or run like he used to when he was a star with the New York Mets. If he could, the Rockies would have no problem finding a taker.

Reyes isn’t that player anymore. I’m not the biggest fan of WAR as a way to evaluate players, but it’s hard to argue with the Baseball-Reference.com WAR numbers for Reyes.

He peaked at 5.8 in 2006 (second to Carlos Guillen among full-time shortstops). He put up a 4.7 in 2011 (third behind Tulowitzki and Asdrubal Cabrera).

And last year? He was at 0.3. After the midseason trade to the Rockies, he was minus-0.2.

Under the terms of his suspension, Reyes can now start working out in extended spring training, and beginning June 1, he can join a minor league team for a rehabilitation assignment. Perhaps he can prove that he still has value.

The Rockies can only hope he does.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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