MLB trade rumors and news: Snell, Bird suffer injuries; Red Sox reverse course behind the plate

Blake Snell suffered an embarrassing injruy while Boston brought back its primary catcher from last season’s World Series-winning club.

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• The Red Sox righted an apparent wrong on Tuesday morning, designating catcher Blake Swihart for assignment and bringing back catcher Sandy Leon — the primary catcher on last year’s World Series championship team and a backstop who had a very strong rapport with their pitching staff — after DFAing him prior to Opening Day. Swihart, who was once among the most highly-regarded catching prospects in the game, will now have seven days to be traded, claimed on waivers, or outrighted to Triple-A.
• Blake Snell has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a fractured toe. Thankfully for the Rays, he’s expected to miss just one start, but losing a reigning Cy Young winner for any length of time is a disappointment no matter what. To make matters worse, Snell apparently suffered the injury while trying to move a decorative stand in his bathroom after getting out of the shower.
• In the latest unfortunate development in the sad story that has become Greg Bird’s career, the left-handed hitting first baseman will miss an indefinite period of time after suffering a left plantar fascia tear. Luke Voit and Mike Ford will hold down first base in his absence.
• The Braves inked another one of their young stars to an extremely team-friendly deal, as Ozzie Albies signed a seven-year, $35 million extension with two club options. This deal has raised a ton of eyebrows across the league, to say the least.
• Now that the Cardinals already locked up Paul Goldschmidt for the forseeable future, they turned their eyes to Matt Carpenter and agreed to terms with him on an extension that will keep him in St. Louis until at least 2021 with a vesting option for 2022. His option vests if he its 1,100 plate appearances total between the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
• The Indians were already relying heavily on their rotation coming into the season thanks to a significantly weakened lineup and bullpen, and that became the case even more when Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis went down with injuries. Thus, it was a devastating development when Cleveland announced that its best starter thus far, Mike Clevinger, will be completely shut down from baseball activities for at least 6-8 weeks as he recovers from an upper back strain.
• Most Yankees fans’ expectations for Luis Severino had already been lowered substantially after he was shut down with a shoulder injury during spring training. They dropped down another notch last week, as the team announced that the 24-year-old starter won’t start throwing again for at least six more weeks due to a new injury — a Grade 2 lat strain.
• Our own Andersen Pickard writes that MLB’s decision to shorten mid-inning breaks could have serious consequences for the league from a business standpoint.
• The Orioles have signed Dan Straily to a major-league contract, as our Andersen Pickard reported first. The 32-year-old was released by Miami at the end of spring training. At this point, it looks like the Orioles are going to need all the help they can muster, and a veteran presence in the starting rotation can’t hurt.
• The Braves reached a deal with their 21-year-old franchise cornerstone that could keep him Atlanta for the next decade, announcing a new eight-year, $100 million contract for Ronald Acuna Jr. that contains two club options. If the Earth is still spinning by that point and the Braves pick up both of those options, he has the chance to remain in ATL through the 2028 season. So now that Acuña is a Brave for the long haul, how will Atlanta build around him?
• The Rockies locked up a key member of their rotation for the long term, signing German Marquez to a new five-year deal that will pay him $43 million from this season through 2023. The contract includes a club option for 2024 that becomes a mutual option if he finishes among the top three in Cy Young voting multiple times.
• Randal Grichuk became arguably the most unlikely player yet to receive a lucrative long-term extension this spring, agreeing to a new five-year, $52 million deal with the Blue Jays.
• In hopes of fixing their absolute mess of an outfield situation, the Giants acquired Kevin Pillar from Toronto in exchange for a three-player package that included recently-DFA’d infielder Alen Hanson and reliever Derek Law plus pitching prospect Juan De Paula.
• The Yankees are currently the walking wounded, as they found out that not only will Giancarlo Stanton miss time with a biceps injury, but that Miguel Andujar is sidelined with a shoulder injury and could have to undergo season-ending surgery.
• Just before the Blue Jays and Athletics began their seasons, Toronto dealt first baseman Kendry Morales to Oakland. Morales will fill in at first for Matt Olson, who is recovering from surgery on his broken right hand.
• After Ozzie Albies’ contract, MLB may never value players the same again.
• Adam Ottavino is still nearly unhittable, perhaps due to the fact that he’s so obsessed with baseball he rented out an empty storefront in Harlem to perfect his mechanics and/or he’s a wizard.
• Marcell Ozuna overshot this highlight reel catch by like 15 feet. There’s a lesson to be learned here: always do less and hope it works out for the best because extra effort can cost you.
• Not only is MLB implementing some rule changes over the next couple of years, but they are also workshopping other changes in the independent Atlantic League to see how things work or don’t work. Our own Stephen Tolbert took a look at these potential changes to see what impacts they could have on games.
• While it seems like a clear-cut, no-brainer deal for almost any team in need of a pitcher, Stephen Tolbert breaks down the tricky part about signing Dallas Keuchel.
• Let’s take a moment to be shocked and surprised: MLB’s revised roster rules could end up punishing the players. That’s thanks to a new limit on pitchers — while it’s yet to be confirmed, multiple reports have stated that come 2020, teams will only be allowed to carry 13 pitchers on their big-league roster — and a significant reduction on September call-ups.