Some news from around the AL East…
- The Blue Jays had interest in Ruben Tejada and “were serious” about adding the infielder before he signed with the Cardinals, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin reports (Twitter link). With Devon Travis still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and not expected back until May or June, Tejada would’ve provided depth for Toronto’s infield. Ryan Goins will start at second until Travis is healthy, with Troy Tulowitzki at short, Josh Donaldson at third and Darwin Barney serving as the utility infielder.
- Two very notable Orioles arms are battling injuries as Opening Day approaches. Kevin Gausman told reporters (including Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun) that a recent cortisone shot has helped relieve some of the soreness caused by right shoulder tendinitis. Still, Gausman is going to be very cautious with the injury to avoid causing a problem that would drag into the regular season. Manager Buck Showalter hinted that Gausman could face a DL stint, but one backdated to March 25 so he’d be eligible to start on April 10.
- In another piece from Meoli, Brian Matusz will meet with Orioles coaches and trainers today to plan what’s next for the lefty reliever, who’s been sidelined for almost all of Spring Training due to a bad back. It seems like Matusz will require a DL stint as well, if only to give him time to get loose and make up for his lost time in camp. The O’s have acquired southpaws Edgar Olmos and Zach Phillips in recent days, indicating that the club is preparing to be without Matusz.
- The Rays have some roster flexibility since they only need four starters in April, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. The Rays have four off-days scheuled between April 3 and April 29. With an extra roster spot to work with, the Rays could keep an extra first baseman — as noted in my Rays Offseason In Review piece, Tampa has a surplus at first, the outfield and at catcher. Rosenthal notes that the Rays could address catcher by keeping out-of-options backstops Curt Casali and Rene Rivera while optioning Hank Conger.
- In other AL East news from earlier today, check out this Blue Jays Notes post.
Doesn’t sound like the best start for Os rotation to begin the year. If Gausman is one they hope breaks out, this is what they want to hear.
What gives Mark? AL East notes but nothing on my Red Sox?
Well obviously there’s no new news/notes on the Red Sox. The Yankees aren’t mentioned in here either but you don’t see me or anyone else (yet) complaining.
What gives? Are you for real? Dyou realize how much has been written about the Red Sox this past week? Stop complaining. Nobody else complains when their favorite team isn’t mentioned.
No one cares about the Red Sox or their egotistical fans!
Can you stop? You give all Red Sox fans an even worse reputation than we already have.
Hopefully God gets annoyed by this guy and orders up another 86 year title drought…
Can you stop? You give Red Sox fans a worse reputation than we have already.
He is by far the worse troll I have ever seen. Everything is “HIS RED SOX” What a homer.
Stop commenting bigpapi! Even the author said to stop making Boston comments when they aren’t the topic. So asking why they aren’t talked about, in a post that they aren’t talked about, is exactly it! Be quiet!
I’ve got some Sox news for you. Pablo Sandoval is fat and getting fatter, Hanley Ramirez plays LF like Manny Ramirez’s slower, dumber, and more fielding-impaired twin, Ortiz is fat, old, and likes destroying dugout phones and dropping f-bombs, and the Red Sox play in a Fisher Price stadium. Satisfied?
No
Since when is Curt Casali out of options? News to me.
You are correct Mac, he is not. By all accounts it will be Casali in AAA to start the year. Conger and Rivera platooning.
He’s not.
As a Yankee’s fan I’m glad to see a column without them. Good notes on Blue Jays, Orioles, and Rays, and a very nice Offseason Review of the Rays. Good work, Mark.
Good thing the Orioles hung onto Gausman instead of trading him for the “injury prone” Carlos Gonzalez. Oh well. more power to you.
While cargo’s REPEATED injury history I am sure was a factor in negotiations, the bigger key was the fact that the Orioles rotation is already thin. Gausman is the one of the few arms in the entire system that has top of the rotation potential. That trade would have made zero baseball sense for Baltimore, not even getting into money or cargos injury history. You would think a Rockies fan would understand the importance of pitching. Guess not. Oh well. More power to you.
The AL East~ The only place where one day a team has a roster crunch, and then on the next day with no transactions at all can have great roster flexibility. Two different writers writing about the same team have totally different perspectives on the Rays.
Depth always seems to be problematic at this point in the year and a blessing later.
The roster crunch the Rays are facing is temporarily abated by the fact that they have additional flexibility for the first couple weeks of the season bc their off-days allow them to avoid using a 5th starter. I think the Rays will need a 5th starter before the end of April, though. So far as I can tell, if everyone pitches on at least 4 days rest in April, they’ll need a 5th starter to make two starts during the month, the first one on April 17th. Still, the Rays could move Ramirez to the pen and use him as a starter and reliever the first month if they want to carry an extra position player in April.
Mark, can you or anyone else ban him from the sight ?