Mets say sorry to Marlins after wet field forced DH
NEW YORK — The sloppy field that caused a costly postponement for the Miami Marlins left the New York Mets all wet.
Mets owner Steven Cohen apologized to the Marlins on Wednesday for the circumstances that led to Tuesday night’s series opener between the teams getting washed out. The game was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Wednesday, affecting Miami’s pitching plans in the final days of a heated playoff race and angering team officials, according to a report by The Athletic.
“Our sincere apologies to the Marlins and their fans for having to postpone last night’s game,” Cohen posted Wednesday on X. “We know how important this series is to the Marlins and every effort was made to get the field playable.”
Our sincere apologies to the Marlins and their fans for having to postpone last night’s game. We know how important this series is to the Marlins and every effort was made to get the field playable.
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) September 27, 2023
The infield at Citi Field wasn’t covered with a tarp for at least some portion of last weekend, when rain from Tropical Storm Ophelia began pelting New York City for four straight days. The tarp was on the field Tuesday, but when showers finally subsided in the late afternoon and the tarp was removed, the field was soggy.
Members of the Mets’ grounds crew worked for about three hours attempting to dry and smooth the infield and get the surface in playing shape, to no avail.
A message on the scoreboard long before the scheduled 7:10 p.m. start alerted fans the game would be delayed, and another message read: “Tropical Storm Ophelia brought heavy precipitation to the area. We are trying to make the field conditions playable.”
Major League Baseball representatives huddled on the field with Marlins general manager Kim Ng, manager Skip Schumaker, Mets manager Buck Showalter and others at 6 p.m. and then again at 8 p.m. Approximately 20 minutes later, New York announced the game was postponed because of unplayable field conditions and rescheduled for Wednesday.
“Due to the significance of the game for the Marlins, every effort was made to make the field playable,” the Mets said.
Miami entered Wednesday a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs for the final National League playoff berth, with six games remaining. New York is eliminated from postseason contention.
Braxton Garrett, one of the top pitchers in a Marlins rotation depleted by injuries, was slated to start Tuesday night but instead was pushed back to Wednesday’s opener. That means if Miami wants him on the mound again for the regular-season finale Sunday in Pittsburgh, now it would need to be on short rest.
“It’s tough for me to say — I’ve never been in this position before. But it’s something we can talk about,” Garrett said after throwing 77 pitches over four innings during an 11-2 loss Wednesday. “I’m sure they’d want to know how I feel going forward. But yeah, we’ll talk about it for sure.”
Schumaker called the entire ordeal “a giant mess up” but took the high road, saying he hoped perhaps his rested players might benefit from the unexpected night off.
“First of all, Major League Baseball did an outstanding job of trying to get the game in. They really did. They did everything they could to help get the game in – as well as Buck,” Schumaker said. “Buck was great in trying to do whatever they could.
“The reality is, the tarp wasn’t on over the weekend and this is what happens. And weather is – we couldn’t play yesterday. That’s just what it is. We tried, and the last thing you want to do is keep the guys here until midnight and then not play. So, I think they made the right decision of getting guys back home at a decent time and being ready to go today early.”
The sun peeked out Wednesday, and the first game of the single-admission doubleheader began on time at 4:10 p.m. under partly cloudy blue skies. Some spots on the infield still looked a little wetter than usual, but Schumaker said the field was definitely in much better condition.
“You try to take as much positive as you can out of it. We’re lucky to be in this position. And hopefully the complaining and all that frustration is over with,” he said.
Showalter defended the Mets’ grounds crew, noting that if a tarp remains on a field too long it can prevent grass from growing.
“There’s nothing you can do. When it rains, I mean, what are you gonna do?” Showalter said. “Nobody wants to play a doubleheader – including us.
“It’s nothing on our part. I mean, everybody wanted to play. It just wasn’t there. We tried to play it. We tried to wait as long as we could to try to make it playable. … You understand their frustration, but we’ll be on to something else in 24 hours. But there’s a lot more to it, before everybody started weighing in on it. But it’s nothing cloak and dagger, it’s just the way it is. When it rains for (four) straight days, things happen.”
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The San Diego Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, the teams announced Saturday.
The Padres also received nearly $7.9 million in cash considerations, leaving them responsible only for the major league minimum salary for Arraez.
The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations in November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins’ teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-25 with a minus-61 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres’ front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport’s best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 17-18 with a plus-6 run differential.
“It’s really amazing — that guy is a baller,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said about Arraez after the Padres’ win Friday night. “He’s probably the closest to Tony Gwynn right now, so looking forward to seeing him in our lineup. … The guy’s a pure hitter, and I can’t wait for him to help us.”
Miami is paying San Diego $7,898,602 of the $8,491,398 remaining for the final 149 days of Arraez’s $10.6 million salary. That left his cost to the Padres at $592,796 — exactly a prorated share of the $740,000 minimum.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the past two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
“When a guy like that is taken out of the lineup or potentially traded, you feel it, because he’s such a good kid and one of the leaders in that clubhouse,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “so there’s definitely a shock value.”
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA across 12⅓ innings after failing to make the Padres’ bullpen out of spring training.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old center fielder is batting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-Class A.
Martorella is batting .294 with an .820 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, has spent the season in San Antonio batting .185 with two home runs. He was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Central Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday morning for the first time since being shut down in mid-March, checking off another box in his road back from an elbow injury.
Cole took the mound in the Yankees’ bullpen at 10:40 a.m., hours before New York took on the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. He said he threw 15 pitches, 13 for strikes and all fastballs. He said the pitches averaged 89 mph.
“It was exciting,” Cole said. “This was a good day for me. I was fired up.”
Cole, 33, started the season on the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow following one spring training outing. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is eligible to come off the injured list May 27, but the Yankees have declined to share a timetable for Cole’s return.
On a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being game ready — Cole reported he is “somewhere between 1 and 5.” He said how his body responds over the next 48 hours will decide when he throws off a mound again.
Cole’s injury was a significant blow to a club with championship-or-bust aspirations, but the Yankees’ starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors and a primary reason for the team’s 21-13 start. The rotation’s 3.43 ERA through Friday ranked ninth in the majors. Its 183⅔ innings pitched ranked fourth.
Luis Gil, Cole’s rotation replacement, logged the best start of his young career Wednesday, holding the explosive Baltimore Orioles scoreless on two hits over a career-high 6⅓ innings. Gil, 25, has recorded a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings across six starts despite leading the American League with 20 walks.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said neither the team’s nor the rotation’s success will impact Cole’s timeline. Asked whether the overall success has made his absence more “palatable,” Cole was unsure.
“I don’t really have anything unpalatable to compare it to,” Cole said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just kind of like, just like everybody else, just glad we’re playing well.”
Also on Saturday, the Yankees reinstated infielder Jon Berti from the 10-day injured list and designated former first-round pick Taylor Trammell for assignment.
Berti, 34, has been out of the Yankees’ lineup since April 10 with a left groin strain. The Yankees had selected Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18, and he collected 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 runs in five games with New York.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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