The Windup: Elly De La Cruz waves goodbye; Xander Bogaerts injury huge loss for the Padres

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Xander Bogaerts is out indefinitely, the Royals’ veteran pitchers are helping the young guys, we take a look at the 1984 Detroit Tigers, and I can’t stop watching Elly De La Cruz do something weird. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

Loss of Xander Bogaerts hurts Padres on defense and offense

For a moment, it seemed the Padres had dodged a bullet. The initial imaging on Xander Bogaerts’ right shoulder — injured when he dove for a ball with the bases loaded on Monday — came back negative.

Alas, the follow-up X-rays showed something else. Bogaerts has a fracture in his left shoulder.

It’s rough news for the Padres. Bogaerts, 31, was off to a poor start — he was hitting just .204 through his first 40 games — but he had heated up of late, riding a six-game hitting streak into Monday’s game. That 8-for-25 stretch will have to wait now; he’s out indefinitely while the shoulder heals.

The Padres are currently 26-26 and in second place in the NL West, just a game ahead of the Giants for the third wild-card position. While the loss of who Bogaerts has been this season isn’t the biggest subtraction, statistically, the loss of who he should be — the Bogaerts who seemed to be returning over the last week — is huge.

It’s not just on offense, either. Bogaerts was one of the Padres’ many converted shortstops, and among second basemen, ranked fifth in FanGraphs’ Outs Above Average stat, with plus-4.

Luis Arraez started at second base on Tuesday, and will likely get the bulk of the playing time there. He is currently ranked last in OAA, at minus-8.

Dennis Lin has all the details and contingency plans.

Ken’s Notebook: How much is veteran influence worth?

When trying to calculate the value of a free agent, teams do not always account for the positive effect a veteran can have on younger players. While that intangible cannot be measured, it often is real. The 2024 Kansas City Royals (32-19) are a case in point.

Seth Lugo (three years, $45 million, opt out after two seasons) and Michael Wacha (two years, $32 million, opt out after one) are not only providing quality innings, but also teaching the Royals’ younger starters how the job should be done.

“I’ve always wanted to get deeper into games, control my pitch count, stay away from the big inning — that’s something that has been a downfall for me in my career,” right-hander Brady Singer said. “This year, I’m doing a little better job of that, just watching those two guys, how they navigate through the innings.”

The lessons from Lugo, 34, and Wacha, 32, are helping not just Singer, 27, but also Cole Ragans and Alec Marsh, both 26. Only three teams, the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, boast better rotation ERAs than the Royals. Lugo is second in the AL with 65 1/3 innings and first with a 1.79 ERA. Wacha has a 4.45 ERA but, along with Ragans and Singer, also ranks among the top 20 in the AL in innings.

“The way they’re setting up hitters, attacking hitters, studying hitters, has been a massive benefit for all of us,” Singer said. “Lugo can pick apart every single batter without even pitching. The work he puts in between outings has been huge. I’ve done a much deeper dive into analytics and studying guys and figuring out how to get guys out, not only the first time, but the third time through the lineup. It’s the same with Wacha.”

The Royals’ five starters have taken every turn but two; the exceptions occurred only because Marsh needed time on the injured list after getting struck on the elbow by a batted ball. The team’s two free-agent relievers, Will Smith (7.63 ERA) and Chris Stratton (4.95), have not been as successful. But for the starters, Lugo and Wacha have set a clear tone.

“They never let an inning get too big on ’em,” Singer said. “They have the same look on their face, the same idea: ‘I’m just going to get this guy out and move on to the next one.’ They’re not looking too much forward, thinking about the outcome of the inning. They’re focused on the next pitch. And I’ve benefited from watching them.”

The Elly wave

You know the feeling: When there’s something you never noticed before, then you notice it and can’t stop seeing it afterward? That’s been the case for me, watching Elly De La Cruz steal bases. Let’s see if you notice what I’m talking about:

Did you see it? Here’s another one, more zoomed in on De La Cruz.

When he takes off, his arms flail as if the rest of his body failed to inform them that it was go time. Sorry, I lied yesterday when I said there would be no more “stealing home” content today — here’s another one.

It looks like his arms are letting out a short scream. “AH!”

I can’t stop watching it.

AH!!

I’ve been obsessed with it for weeks, so I finally asked our Reds writer C. Trent Rosecrans to investigate. Is it on purpose? Is it helpful? Trent asked Reds first base coach Collin Cowgill.

“When he waves bye?” Cowgill said, chuckling. “That’s one of the first things I ever saw. … Last year, we made a point to work on it. But he’s working on so many things; if it starts to be a problem, then we’ll address it. But right now, it’s not.”

So wait. Is Cowgill saying that De La Cruz — who leads the league with 30 stolen bases, and is on pace for 99 steals this year — could be even better?

“His starts, overall, definitely need to get better,” Cowgill explained. “But I also don’t want him to think too much out there. I want him to get it in rhythm and feel good … when he feels good and goes — most of the time, he’s safe. He’s done a much better job (with) the count, being patient, knowing ‘Maybe not in the first three pitches, because on the fourth pitch, (the pitcher) might go higher (with his leg kick), he might be slower, he might have to make a pitch here, and forget about you a little bit.’ The maturation of that has been incredible to watch.”

So there you have it. The best in the business could be even better. But for now, I’m enjoying the arm-flailing “wave bye.”

More De La Cruz: Fernando Tatis Jr., on De La Cruz: “He has better tools than myself.”

Revisiting the 1984 Tigers’ run

The Phillies are 36-14. The Yankees are 34-17 and the Guardians are 33-17. Hot starts, all, with the Phillies off to the best start since the record-setting 2001 Mariners (47-12). But none of those teams can hold a candle to the start the Detroit Tigers jumped out to 40 years ago, when they started the season 35-5 en route to winning the 1984 World Series.

Cody Stavenhagen spoke to several members of the team and wrote a cool story. It’s a combination of nostalgia and a vulnerable look at a group that is, little by little, being forced to reckon with the fact that time stops for nobody — not even the world champions.

They are ingrained in the memories of Tigers fans as ageless champions, emotional touchstones for a generation of Detroiters. Men like that, the ones frozen in iconic photographs and captured on faded blue film, are not supposed to grow old.

Those Tigers, including Kirk Gibson, who also provided the most iconic moment of a Dodgers championship four years later, still keep in touch with each other. 35-5 isn’t quite undefeated, but two former Tigers — pitchers Jack Morris and Dan Petry — said they still watch the standings early in the season, much like the 1972 Dolphins, to see if anyone can match their start.

So far, nobody has.

Whether you’re a die-hard Tigers fan, or just curious to learn more about the history of the game, it’s a fantastic read.

Handshakes and High Fives

The Cardinals? Those Cardinals?? Swept the Orioles?!

Baseball pranks are the best. Last night, the Dodgers tricked Shohei Ohtani into thinking he was being pinch-hit for. (“It’s called playing the percentages! It’s what smart managers do to win ballgames.”) It was funny, but it’s also another sign of how his Dodgers teammates are embracing the star.

Yankees starter Luis Gil is 5-1 with a 2.39 ERA and has accomplished the impossible: filling in for Gerrit Cole. Chris Kirschner digs deep into the story of how Gil got here.

The City of Oakland is selling its shares in the Coliseum to developers.

Hunter Brown of the Astros hadn’t thrown a sinker since 2019, when he was in college. Chandler Rome tells us why he started throwing it again this month — and how it’s helping him.

Seattle’s Josh Rojas confirmed that Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt was tipping pitches. All I’m saying is that if I saw a pitcher tipping his pitches, I would handle it more like Andre Agassi did with Boris Becker.

Patrick Mooney asks: Is it time to start worrying about the Cubs offense?

The Nationals have a bullpen cart available, but nobody has used it this year until Twins reliever Steven Okert did it yesterday. He might have set a new trend — he tipped the driver $5 in cash.

We have our first repeat “Look at this play!” performer. Lucas Erceg! What are you doing?!

You can buy tickets to every MLB game here.

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(Top photo: Rich von Biberstein / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)