Altuve Released by Taters Following Official Timeline for Return

A firm timeline for Jose Altuve was revealed Wednesday as the infielder had surgery on his fractured thumb. Houston Astros GM Dana Brown revealed that it would be two months before Altuve can resume baseball activities, likely keeping him out of the lineup for 10 weeks.

With a formal timeline, Idaho Taters GM Mike Friedrich has announced the second baseman's release.

Over the past ten full seasons, going back to 2012, Altuve has never played fewer than 124 games in an individual campaign. That low tally came in 2019, when a hamstring strain sent him to the injured list for just over a month. Apart from that, all his trips to the IL have been fairly minor, meaning he is now likely facing the most lengthy absence of his career.

Altuve, 33 in May, has been one of the better players in the league in that time but is coming off one of his best seasons to date. He hit 28 home runs, stole 18 bases and walked in a career-high 10.9% of his trips to the plate. His .300/.387/.533 batting line resulted in a 164 wRC+, a career-high figure that indicated he was 64% better than the league average hitter. Defensive metrics were split on the value of his glovework, but he was still ranked as being worth 6.6 wins above replacement by FanGraphs, his highest tally in that department since the infamous sign-stealing season of 2017.

Altuve's addition to the Free Agent Class adds yet another intriguing and big name to follow. It's hard to not attach Altuve to the Mission Viejo Maulers who have been rumored to have interest in fellow injured stars Bryce Harper, Walker Buehler and Carlos Rodon.

Activation Tracker: Stacks Extend RDBL Lead with Four Former Draftees Added

With 30 new activations for the 2023 Season, a fresh update of the Roger Dorn Baseball League Activation Tracker is live with the Alamo Short Stacks extending their lead to 22 with the St. Joseph Jokers closely behind at 20.

The Stacks had four former draftees activated for this season with Corbin Carroll, Miguel Vargas and Luis Campusano joining their Active Roster while infielder Luis Garcia was promoted by the Burlingame Blue Ducks.

The Jokers have continued to fly under the radar with one of the league's top Reserve Scouting approaches. GM Rick Steen added three homegrown prospects to their Active Roster this year with MJ Melendez, Gabriel Moreno and Kyle Wright who joined the likes of former Joker draftees Xander Bogaerts, Byron Buxton and Walker Buehler.

Keeper Rosters By The Numbers + News and Notes on a Busy Deadline Day

Keeper Roster are set after a flurry of Keeper Deadline deals took place that kept the Commissioner's Office quite busy on Monday.

Here's a rundown of how the deadline played out, including some fun with numbers as well as news and notes across RDBL Front Offices as we close in on the 2023 Draft.

5: The number of trades on Monday's RDBL Keeper Deadline.

$19.67: The Spokane Fightin' Fish enter the Draft with the highest "spending power", with $19.67 available per opening left to fill on their roster, with the Aristocrats closely behind at $19.10 available per open roster spot.

24: The number of catchers retained on Active Rosters by RDBL Franchises. That is a RDBL Record and speaks to the flow of young talent taking over at the position as well as the fear from Front Offices entering the Auction without an answer at the position. Every RDBL club has at least one catcher under contract, leaving only the Taters, Fringe, Goutfish, Clovers, Maulers and Devils to fill their second spot.

30: The number of RDBL Activations this season which we ranked from 1-30 on this week's Lou Brown Blog.

$43: The largest Keeper pitching contract in the RDBL held by Burlingame Blue Ducks right-hander Aaron Nola. Nola is joined by Brandon Woodruff ($38) and Zack Wheeler ($25) as the only keeper pitcher contracts at or above $25.

$49: The highest Keeper contract for a hitter goes to St. Joseph Jokers shortstop Trea Turner, followed by Jose Ramirez ($47), Matt Olson ($46), Xander Bogaerts ($44) and Manny Machado ($43).

65: The number of RDBL Reserve Draft picks that changed hands through trades between Opening Day of 2022 and Monday's RDBL Keeper Deadline.

$78: The lowest cap space number in the RDBL, held by the Meinert Hops.

$88: The new RDBL Record for a Keeper Contract held by Hops superstar Shohei Ohtani.

149: The number of open positions to be filled in Auction, eight more than the 2022 Draft.

$214: The highest cap number in the RDBL, owned by GM Ryan Atkinson and the Lake Merced Goutfish.

918.5: Shohei Ohtani's combined projected points on the mound and at the plate, the highest projected point total by an RDBL Player in League History.

$2,145: The total cap space available across the RDBL with teams having an average of $14.40/open position.

Around the RDBL

The Idaho Taters shocked the RDBL with the release of Shane Bieber, tossing another big name into an already elite Free Agent Class. Bieber was owed $58 and would have been the largest Keeper contract in the RDBL, $15 more than the next highest pitcher (Aaron Nola, $43). While the move to release him certainly makes sense based on what is available, it perplexed other Front Offices given that the Taters viewed him highly enough five weeks ago to surrender a 1st Round Pick to obtain him from the Fightin’ Fish.

- While news of Bieber's release quickly ran through RDBL circles, the more surprising news seemed to be the Taters release of Matt Manning who was viewed as a potential activation candidate. With 35 starting pitcher openings on RDBL Rosters, Manning ranks 35th among the available Free Agents and could go from being cut from a Minor League deal to going in Auction just a week later.

- One of the more eye-opening decisions was the Lunatic Fringe's decision to retain reliever Josh Hader (2/$20) who enters Draft Day as the most expensive reliever by $14 and the fifth most expensive pitcher overall.

- Roki Sasaki eye-opening performance on Monday has seemed to seal the deal for Jokers GM Rick Steen who intends on making the prized right-hander the top overall pick on Monday according to sources. That will shift the attention to the Las Vegas Aristocrats who appear to be focused on either James Wood or Jackson Chourio with the 2nd overall pick.

- The Braves surprising move to start infielder Vaughn Grissom in Triple-A doesn’t appear to damper RDBL Front Office’s enthusiasm about his future. While Grissom is relegated to the Reserve Draft on only a 1D/$5 deal after exhausting his Rookie eligibility in 2022, there’s a growing expectation that the future shortstop might not make it out of the 1st Round. One team to watch is the Mission Viejo Maulers who have their eyes on a quick rebuild and hold four 1st Round selections (3rd, 6th, 12th and 13th).

- The Aristocrats surprised some by holding back catcher Shea Langeliers, further squashing an already weak Free Agent catcher class by instead electing to hold Eric Haase (2/$1). With just $2 committed to the catcher postion between Haase and activation William Contreras as well as the league’s third most cap space available ($191), look for the ‘Crats three-headed Front Office to be more aggressive than usual at the top of the Free Agent market.

- Plenty of position battles remain that could slightly alter RDBL Keeper Rosters before Draft Day. The biggest prospect name to monitor will be Anthony Volpe, last season’s top overall Reserve Draft selection, who remains in contention for the starting shortstop role in New York. Volpe has been exceptional this Spring, hitting .308 with a 1.028 OPS. It remains to be seen if GM Chris Shelley would be aggressive with an activation, but it certainly would be enticing.

- The Honolulu Hammerheads remain focused on the battle between Dray Jameson and Ryne Nelson for the fifth starter spot in Arizona. While Nelson is currently activated, that will flip to Jameson if he wins out this week. Additionally, the Heads are hopeful Jarren Duran can secure an Opening Day roster spot in Boston while Alex Kirilloff continues to try and work his way back from continued wrist issues that could land him on the IL to start the year. If news is grim on both Duran and Kirilloff this week, they will both be pulled off the Keeper Roster.

- The Maltese Falcons went down to the wire on the potential activation of Triston Casas, but ultimately chose to hold off and monitor his first eight periods before potentially making a mid-season move. If the Falcons are firmly in the Playoff mix, the Front Office would love to exercise patience with Casas and hold him back for a Playoff activation in the same mold as their current corner infielder Jose Miranda.

- The Cloverdale Clovers and Mt. Diablo Devils will enter Draft Day without the ability to bid on a starting pitcher as they have a full six man rotation under contract. One name to watch in the Free Agent Class will be Matthew Boyd who carries a lofty 461.0 point projection by CBS, but only appeared as a reliever in 2022. That means Boyd will only be eligible to be drafted as a RP, allowing a club to essentially land a 7th starter in Auction.

Per league rules, Boyd, or any other player will be unable to make an in-season start from the RP slot once the season has started.