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MLB News: Skubal Officially Done in WBC, Braves Pitcher Out for Year, Luzardo Gets $135M Extension
Monday was a big day for pitcher news in Major League Baseball. Let’s get right to it.
Skubal Officially Done in WBC
The two-time reigning American League Cy Young winner is sticking with the plan to only pitch once in the World Baseball Classic.
Tarik Skubal pitched against Team Great Britain Saturday night and, according to the Associated Press, strongly considered taking the mound again.
But with a big offseason and free agency ahead, Skubal decided against it.
“My spring training start days were scripted out in January with the original plan being starting and then being done,” Skubal said. “And obviously when I got here my emotions kind of changed a little bit, my thought process changed a little bit and tried to make it work but just couldn’t. And I hate it, but it’s all right.”
Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said he supports the decision.
“I know what’s at stake for him,” DeRosa said. “I’m over the moon he decided to show in the first place for us — I really am — and take the ball for us. I think it meant a lot to a lot of guys in that room. We know where his heart is. If he was in a different situation, he wouldn’t be leaving.”
Braves Pitcher Out for Year
Braves pitcher Joey Wentz is going to miss the season with a torn ACL, the Associated Press reports.
“The club said Monday that Wentz tore the ACL in his right knee while covering first base against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday,” the AP said. “There was initial hope that Wentz had avoided serious injury, but further testing revealed the ligament tear.”
The Braves already put Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep on the 60-day IL.
On the offensive side, Jurickson Profar is out for the year after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Luzardo Gets $135M Extension
In better news, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reports that the Philadelphia Phillies have given “lefty Jesús Luzardo … a five-year extension worth $135 million, a reward for a stellar first season in Philadelphia.”
Luzardo will now avoid the free agency that awaited him after this season is over, with Gelb explaining that he “chose to bypass that process in exchange for some certainty now.”
