MLB Player News

Mets catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud was cleared to remove his walking boot, according to ESPNNewYork.com.

d'Arnaud tweeted that he can start buying left shoes again, hinting that he no longer has a walking boot. He's been out for seven weeks after fracturing a bone in his foot. He is considered one of the team's top prospects entering the season. He was the prize of the R.A. Dickey deal.

d'Arnaud is hitting .250/.429/.472 in 36 at-bats in Triple-A. 

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal is not in Thursday's lineup against the Rockies. He has started seven of his team's last nine games at catcher since returning from a 50-game suspension.

Grandal is just 3 for 27 with two RBI and four runs this year.

Yes, he's been a dud, but after only 21 at-bats, so was Carlos Gomez. It doesn't mean Yasmani Grandal needed PEDs to perform like he did as a rookie and wouldn't have been able to lift the bat from his shoulder otherwise. It just means his season has just started.

Granted, we'd have an easier time assessing him if he homered in his first game and doubled twice in his second, but rarely is baseball so convenient. Knowing his upside -- and yes, he was considered one of the best hitting prospects at the catcher position well before he ever failed a drug test -- he has the potential to be a game-changer at a relatively weak position. If Chris Iannetta or Erik Kratz is the best you can do off the waiver wire, then you should be willing to suffer through a couple down weeks for the sake of Grandal's potential.

What's a resonable expectation for him the rest of the way? Well, expecting some regression from last year but also accounting for the reduced size of the Padres' home park, I have him 10th among catchers in my rest-of-season rankings, ahead of notables Jonathan Lucroy, Jason Castro and, yes, Evan Gattis.

Mets catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud was not cleared by team doctors to remove a protective boot from his left foot after an examination Monday, the New York Daily News reports.

d'Arnaud has no timetable to remove the boot, and the team will not provide an official update on his status Monday, according to the Daily News.

Doctors have cleared Mets catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud to begin limited workouts, the New York Post reports. But d'Arnaud is unsure when he'll be able to remove his protective boot and was expected to receive clearance to begin working out two weeks ago.

"A couple of weeks ago when I found out it was still broken it was real tough to take," d'Arnaud said. "But there was nothing I could do except go home and relax and make sure my foot healed, and that's what I did."

d'Arnaud has been out since mid-April with a broken left foot.

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal made his season debut Tuesday at Seattle. Grandal, who was activated from the restricted list after serving a 50-game suspension, batted sixth in the lineup and finished 1 for 3 with a single and a run scored in a 6-1 win.

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal was activated from the restricted list Tuesday, as his 50-game suspension has come to an end. The team optioned John Baker to Triple-A Tucson, and designated infielder Edinson Rincon for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster. 

Let's not mince words here: If you're starting Buster Posey, Carlos Santana, Joe Mauer, Yadier Molina, Matt Wieters, Mike Napoli, Brian McCann or maybe Wilin Rosario at catcher, you're probably not picking up the Padres' Yasmani Grandal in anticipation of his return from a 50-game suspension Tuesday. If you're starting anyone else, you probably are.

Or at least, you probably should. The .863 OPS he compiled over the three months or so that he was in the big leagues last year would have ranked fourth among full-time catchers if he had done it over a full season, placing him ahead of Santana and Mauer, among others. Now, you could argue the OPS was artificially enhanced by the PEDs he was using, and maybe it was. But it's not like he was some out-of-nowhere minor-league journeyman putting up those numbers. He was the 12th overall pick in 2010 -- a legit prospect with big-time potential.

Plus, his batting eye was as responsible for his impressive debut as anything else. As long as that wasn't a fluke, I'd bank on the reduced fences at PETCO Park allowing Grandal to produce at near the level he did last year.

The Padres are set to activate catcher Yasmani Grandal Tuesday, as his 50-game performance-enhancing drug suspension has come to a close. The team plans to option John Baker to Triple-A Tucson to make room for Grandal.

Grandal appeared in nine minor-league games prior to his activation, batting .306 without a home run. He is expected to be the team's primary catcher. 

Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal 's 50-game drug suspension is nearly over, and the team expects him back in the next few days. Grandal could return as early as Tuesday in Seattle, according to U-T San Diego.

He has been playing at Triple-A Tucson, where he has a .731 on-base plus slugging percentage in nine games.