By Rob Rains
The Cardinals would like to project that top prospect Oscar Taveras will be ready to play in the major-leagues in September and ready to compete for the job as the team’s starting center fielder in spring training next year.
They would like to, but they can’t.
A high ankle sprain has caused Taveras to spend more time on the disabled list at Triple A Memphis this season than on the active roster. He has played one game and taken only two at-bats since June 24, playing on July 15 on a rehab assignment with the Gulf Coast League Cardinals before going right back on the DL.
He is working out and getting treatment daily at the Cardinals’ minor-league complex in Jupiter, Fla., but John Vuch, the team’s director of minor league operations, said there is no timetable on when Taveras will be able to return to the field.
“He’s had a couple of false starts and we just want to be sure he is 100 percent healthy before we start pushing him,” Vuch said.
The 21-year-old Taveras was originally injured on May 24 attempting to steal second base. He went on the disabled list the following day, and was out until June 8. After playing in 15 games over the next two weeks, out of Memphis’ 18 games, Taveras re-injured the ankle on June 23.
Through Sunday, Taveras has missed 51 games at Memphis while playing in only 46 games for the Redbirds.
“It’s disappointing any time a player is hurt,” Vuch said. “He’s definitely lost some time, but the whole purpose of us taking longer to get him back out there is so we don’t have a situation where he we have to worry about a recurrence. We want to err on the side of making sure he is healthy before we put him back out there.”
The Cardinals know that decision could affect the timetable on when Taveras is ready for the jump to the major leagues. He was playing well before he was hurt, having hit .306 with five homers and 32 RBI in his first 46 games at the Triple A level.
The Cardinals had confidence that Taveras could hit at the Triple A level based on his league-leading .321 average with 23 homers and 94 RBI in 124 games last year at Double A Springfield. What they wanted, and needed, to see from him this year, however, was continued improvement in center field and running the bases, two areas of his development which have been put on hold because of the injury.
Taveras has played in 35 games in center field in Memphis, committing one fielding error.
“He was playing well, and definitely showed us he was not overmatched,” Vuch said. “He was making progress defensively and on the bases. It was disappointing when he got hurt, but he’s made progress and we’re still very excited about him and very optimistic about him.”
Vuch said there is still time for Taveras to get back on the field at Memphis before the Triple A season ends around Labor Day, depending on whether the Redbirds make the playoffs and how far they advance.
“We know once he’s ready it’s still going to take him a little time to get up to game speed,” Vuch said, “but he still has time to get back out there and salvage something from this year.”
Vuch said whether or not Taveras comes up to the Cardinals in September, he still is eligible to play in the Arizona Fall League, and in winter ball in his native Dominican Republic, which would enable him to get more game experience before reporting to spring training next year.
Both of those options will be considered, Vuch said, noting that the team’s roster for the Fall League has not been completed. Taveras’ manager in Springfield, Mike Shildt, will be managing the Fall League team this year.
“When we get him back on the field then we will be able to make an evaluation and go from there,” Vuch said.
Projecting whether Taveras will be ready for the Cardinals next April, or will need more time at Triple A, will be a hard decision for general manager John Mozeliak and his top aides because of Taveras’ lack of game experience this year.
It will affect their thought process on whether to make a contract offer to free agent Carlos Beltran, and what to offer Jon Jay, who is going into his first year of arbitration. The team also will have to decide if they want to move Allen Craig to right field on a more consistent basis, opening up first base for Matt Adams.
Beltran likely will want at least a two-year contract to re-sign with the Cardinals, and it is unlikely the team would offer him more than a one-year deal, even if they have doubts about Taveras’ readiness. How they evaluate Jay will be a factor in those decisions as well, since the team really has no other full-time options to play center field. Jay has hit better lately – posting a .298 average since July 1. Through arbitration, he likely will be looking at a salary jump of more than $1 million next year.
Even with a healthy Taveras, and a full season’s worth of games at Triple A, those would have been tough decisions. But the Taveras injury will make all of those decisions even more difficult.
Hot Dodgers come to town this week
The Los Angeles Dodgers make their only stop of the year in St. Louis for four games Monday through Thursday. They arrive only three wins shy of tying the NL record for most consecutive wins on the road, 17, set by the New York Giants in 1916.
The Dodgers won their franchise-record 14th consecutive road game on Sunday, 1-0 over the Cubs, giving them the longest streak in the NL since the 1976 Phillies. Their last road loss came on July 6 in San Francisco.
The win improved the Dodgers’ record to 31-7 since June 21, when they were 12 games under .500 and 9 ½ games out of first place. They now lead the NL West by 5 ½ games.
When the Cardinals last played the Dodgers, May 26, the team was 20-28, seven games out of first and manager Don Mattingly was hanging onto his job by a thread.
One of the biggest factors in the Dodgers’ resurgence was the arrival of rookie outfielder Yasiel Puig, who has hit .376 with 11 homers in his first 53 games in the majors.
His status for the series against the Cardinals is questionable, however, after bruising his left thumb while making a diving catch on Saturday. He did not play Sunday.
The Dodgers also likely will be without shortstop Hanley Ramirez, scheduled to undergo an MRI on his right shoulder Monday in St. Louis. Ramirez had to come out of Sunday’s game after jamming his shoulder catching a foul popup, then falling into the stands at Wrigley Field.
One player who definitely will not be with the Dodgers when they get to town is St. Louis’ native Scott Van Slyke, who was optioned to Triple A Albuquerque on Sunday, one day before he was scheduled to make his first appearance as a professional in his hometown.
Manager Don Mattingly said the decision was based in part on the fact the Cardinals do not have a left-handed pitcher in their rotation, and Van Slyke has primarily been playing against left-handers.
"Scott's swinging the bat well, but we're going to face only one left-hander in the next 16 days," Mattingly told LA reporters Sunday. "One thing we have seen from Scott, when he sits six or seven or eight days, that doesn't do us a lot of good. He had good at-bats here and he's going to end up being a valuable piece, but right now this makes the most sense."
This is the third time this season the 27-year-old Van Slyke has been sent back to the minors. He is hitting .242 with six homers and 15 RBI in 95 at-bats with the Dodgers and .355 with 11 homers and 35 RBI in 45 games in Triple A.
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