AL Notes: Pressly, Tanaka, Gallo

Astros relief ace Ryan Pressly was removed from tonight’s Game Six activity after apparently re-aggravating his balky right knee while fielding a ball in the third inning. It was enough surely to attain the Houston faithful maintained their collective breather, since Pressly missed several weeks when you have that same knee surgically restored in August. For the time being, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart relays that the righty is day-to-day with” right knee suffering”( link ).

With tonight’s game still hanging in the balance, it’s tough to be seen whether that “day-to-day” designation might be a moot point, as a win this evening would allow the reliever a few cases days to mend in advance of the World Series’ first game on Tuesday. Placement on the injured list, nonetheless, would likely force the team to turn to Wade Miley for their Fall Classic roster, who was left off the team’s ALCS roster after giving up two deserved runs in a 2.2 IP appearance in the ALDS. The superlative Pressly pitched to a 2.32 ERA( 2.66 FIP) in 54.1 innings in the 2019 regular season.

More notes in all regions of the American League…

In other ALCS-related news, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was felt that Masahiro Tanaka should be available for a potential Game 7 scenario, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today( link ). Tanaka, much-hyped heading into Game 4 due to his impressive postseason resume to that degree, floor through a five-inning, three-run performance on Thursday evening. How much is a home run worth, actually? That’s a question that has become du jour in modern baseball, as the prevalence of longballs has seemed to diminish the on-field value-and off-field earning power-of influence hitters like Joey Gallo of the Rangers. But, as Levi Weaver of The Athletic points out, Gallo is a player for whom it would be particularly difficult to draw up a contract expansion. Gallo, the only player in MLB history to reach his 100 th job homer before his 100 th job single, presents a vexing extension case: he’s still young( 26 on Opening Day 2020 ), unconventionally productive( recording a 144 wRC+ in 2019 despite a 38.4% strikeout rate ), and he’s dealt with injury concerns( missing 92 plays this past season with wrist issues ). Perhaps, more than anything, Gallo’s meaty home run totals project to build him an expensive year-over-year arbitration case, further fueling the incentive to get a long-term deal done on the Rangers side of the negotiating table. In a courageous effort to pinpoint Gallo’s importance, Weaver proposes a five-year, $85 MM extension, perhaps with a sixth squad option time valued at $25 MM. For what it’s worth, the slugger is projected to earn $4.0 MM in his first pass through arb this offseason, according to MLBTR’s projected arbitration modelings.

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