HOUSTON — Astros manager Joe Espada, hoping to put the controversy to bed surrounding a pitch thrown by Framber Valdez in Tuesday’s game that struck catcher César Salazar in the chest, addressed the situation at the beginning of his remarks to the media Wednesday afternoon at Daikin Park.
In the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 7-1 win Tuesday, outfielder Trent Grisham hit a grand slam off Valdez, who threw the pitch despite Salazar motioning for him to step off the rubber. Two pitches later, a clearly frustrated Valdez struck Salazar in the chest protector with a sinker, a move which both pitcher and catcher later said wasn’t intentional.
Salazar wanted a curveball, but a communication mistake caused the catcher to take a sinker in the chest that he wasn’t prepared to catch. Valdez showed no immediate remorse when the pitch was thrown, and Salazar seemed shocked, but both players talked about the incident postgame Tuesday before heading into Espada’s office to continue to clear the air.
“[Tuesday] I obviously met with Salazar and Valdez once I finished talking to [the media] postgame, and I really wanted to get down to … No. 1, [why] was he asking him to step off? I wanted to know about the thought process — who was calling which pitch and what. I wanted to hear from both of them at the same time. I wanted to have a conversation face-to-face because I wanted to hear the truth about the whole entire thing that happened in that inning.
“I have a lot of respect for both players, and I truly believe that when we have these conversations that they’re honest and I want them to tell me the truth. And I want them to tell you guys the truth once they talk to the media. I don’t want to get into specifics, but I do want to say that I want to put this behind us.”
Espada continued, saying there was a lot of misinformation about the event being spread in the media.
“People tell me what’s going on and I don’t like it,” he said. “A lot of that stuff is not true, but I understand the environment and what comes with it, right? I [would] appreciate it if we could just get past this and just go back to just baseball.”
Paredes heading to Florida for rehab
The Astros are still holding onto hope that All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes could return to the lineup by the end of the regular season and be available for the playoffs. Paredes, who suffered a “significant” hamstring strain while running the base June 19, resumed hitting in the batting cage Tuesday and was on the field Wednesday fielding grounders, throwing to bases and running at 50 percent intensity.
“Right now, we’re taking it day by day,” he said. “I’m going to Florida this week for rehab, but hopefully I’ll be back this season.”
Paredes chose rest and rehab instead of surgery with the hopes of returning. He was having a solid year at the plate before he got injured, slashing .259/.359/.470 with a team-high 19 homers and 50 RBIs in 94 games and was among the league leaders in walks.
“The opinions from doctors were various,” he said. “I went with the positive to be able to recover and I wanted to do what’s possible to return this season. Right now, we don’t know. The season is ending, and we don’t know if we’ll return. We’re day to day and putting effort into the recovery to be ready soon.”
Since Paredes went down, the Astros traded for Carlos Correa to play third base and also added infielder Ramón Urías and outfielder Jesús Sánchez in trades. Paredes said discussions about which position he would play if he returns have yet to happen, though he expects to get at-bats at DH.
McCormick optioned to Triple-A
Veteran outfielder Chas McCormick, who was slashing .210/.279/.290 in 66 games this season and had seen his playing time dwindle, was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land on Wednesday for the first time since last year. Catcher Victor Caratini was activated from the seven-day concussion injured list.
“We still have four weeks of season left and going to Triple-A to get that bat going and if he could get him to figure some stuff out, there’s always a possibility to get him back up here,” Espada said.
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