{"id":884043,"date":"2026-06-22T03:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884043\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:46:17","slug":"al-east-notes-wells-kremer-kiner-falefa-grove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/884043\/","title":{"rendered":"AL East Notes: Wells, Kremer, Kiner-Falefa, Grove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Yankees reinstated catcher <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wellsau01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Austin Wells<\/a><\/strong> from the 10-day IL ahead of Sunday\u2019s game against the Reds. Wells went 0-for-2 in his return to the lineup. He missed two weeks while dealing with cervical headaches.<\/p>\n<p>Wells has struggled mightily at the plate this season. He\u2019d posted a 53 wRC+ through 47 games heading into Sunday. His strikeout rate has risen to a career-worst 26.6%. After a career-high 21 home runs last season, Wells has hit just four in 169 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees optioned <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/escarjc01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">J.C. Escarra<\/a><\/strong> back to the minors with Wells back, but there will be more shuffling at the position in the coming days. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters before today\u2019s game that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sanchal04.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ali Sanchez<\/a><\/strong> is headed to the paternity list soon (h\/t <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BryanHoch\/status\/2068719222608318758\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bryan Hoch of MLB.com<\/a>). Escarra will take Sanchez\u2019s spot while he\u2019s away from the team.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees rank 28th in OPS at the catcher position. The lack of production from the group has New York <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2026\/06\/yankees-trade-rumors-catcher-ryan-jeffers-twins.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">in the market<\/a> for a backstop, preferably one who hits right-handed. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jeffery01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ryan Jeffers<\/a><\/strong> of the Twins has been frequently mentioned in the conversation. He\u2019s been excellent this season (163 wRC+), but he\u2019s currently sidelined with a fractured hamate bone.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees also called up right-hander <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodriel03.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Elmer Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong> to start on Sunday. He took righty <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/birdja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jake Bird<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s spot on the roster. It was just a spot start for Rodriguez, who allowed three earned runs over four innings and took the loss. New York optioned him right back to Triple-A after the game. Using Rodriguez today allowed the Yankees to give their rotation an extra day of rest. The club doesn\u2019t have an off-day until July 2.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few other items from around the AL East\u2026<\/p>\n<ul class=\"longlis\">\n<li>The <strong>Orioles<\/strong> sent a pair of starters on rehab assignments today. Right-hander <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kremede01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dean Kremer<\/a><\/strong> joined the Triple-A squad, and lefty <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/povicca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cade Povich<\/a><\/strong> headed to Double-A (h\/t <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/masnRoch\/status\/2068723655824330848\" rel=\"nofollow\">Roch Kubatko of MASN<\/a>). Kremer has been sidelined for nearly two months with a quad strain. He was surprisingly optioned to the minors to start the season, then went down with injury after just two big league starts. Povich hit the IL with elbow inflammation in early May. He\u2019s pitched in four games across two stints with the Orioles this year. Kremer and Povich will likely need several starts to ramp up, but they could push for rotation spots once healthy.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>Red Sox\u00a0<\/strong>placed infielder <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kineris01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Isiah Kiner-Falefa<\/a><\/strong> on the 10-day IL with left forearm inflammation on Saturday. He\u2019s headed for more tests later this week to make sure he isn\u2019t dealing with a fracture. \u201cThere\u2019s some things with that, like on the bone, where you got to \u2026 get a more clear picture,\u201d interim manager Chad Tracy said, relayed by <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/06\/20\/sports\/red-sox-notebook-isiah-kiner-falefa-injured-list\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tim Healey of the Boston Globe<\/a>. \u201cAt this point [they don\u2019t believe there is a fracture], but that\u2019s what the CT scan will be for.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Fellow versatile infielder <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gonzaro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Romy Gonzalez<\/a><\/strong> could\u2019ve been a candidate to replace Kiner-Falefa, but he was pulled from a Double-A game on Friday with hip tightness, per Healey. Gonzalez is working his way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Tracy said the club hopes Gonzalez can resume his rehab assignment on Tuesday.<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>Rays\u00a0<\/strong>reinstated right-hander <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grovemi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.mlbtraderumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-06-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Grove<\/a><\/strong> from the 60-day IL on Sunday. He was optioned to Triple-A. Grove missed all of 2025 after right shoulder surgery. The former Dodger joined the Rays in mid-April. He\u2019s made eight appearances in the minors with Tampa Bay, posting a 2.84 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate over 12 2\/3 innings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Yankees reinstated catcher Austin Wells from the 10-day IL ahead of Sunday\u2019s game against the Reds. Wells&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":884044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[62560,89617,9142,204107,119397,27039,107549,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-884043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-austin-wells","tag-cade-povich","tag-dean-kremer","tag-elmer-rodriguez","tag-isiah-kiner-falefa","tag-michael-grove","tag-romy-gonzalez","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116791711298257011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}