There’s growing concern among Mariners brass about the health of left-hander Charlie Furbush’s shoulder, writes Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Furbush’s 2015 season ended in July due to biceps tendinitis and a minor tear in his rotator cuff, and it was decided then that he would pursue a non-surgical rehab route. Now, however, he feels continued tightness in the shoulder the day after throwing sessions. Furbush will play catch on Tuesday, but manager Scott Servais voiced some concern about Furbush’s availability for Opening Day. Dutton reports that Mike Montgomery could be the beneficiary of the situation, as the out-of-options starter is being converted to a bullpen role and will vie for a relief job with the Mariners over the remainder of Spring Training.
Here’s more from the AL West…
- A numbers crunch on the Athletics’ roster could leave versatile infielder Eric Sogard without a roster spot, as Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area writes. Sogard is the second-longest tenured member of the roster, but the addition of Chris Coghlan, whom the A’s plan to use all over the diamond in a Ben Zobrist type of role, makes it tougher to carry the defensively gifted Sogard. GM David Forst didn’t rule out a trade of some kind to alleviate a perceived roster logjam at the time of adding Coghlan, Stiglich notes, though Sogard also has minor league options remaining, so he could be sent down and begin the season at Triple-A.
- Right-hander Jeremy Guthrie can opt out of his minor league deal with the Rangers on March 28 if he’s not going to make the Opening Day roster, reports MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan. The veteran righty could be the “safe bet” to win the club’s fifth starter job right now, per Sullivan, although both A.J. Griffin and Cesar Ramos have looked sharp as well, he notes. Chi Chi Gonzalez, Nick Tepesch and Nick Martinez are all vying for the spot, too, as are righties Anthony Ranaudo and Phil Klein, though Sullivan notes that the latter two are at the back of the pack.
- Astros catcher Max Stassi flew to Houston yesterday to have an injury in to the hamate in his left wrist examined by a hand specialist, writes Jose de Jesus Ortiz of the Houston Chronicle. Stassi, who turns 25 tomorrow, entered Spring Training as the favorite to back up Jason Castro behind the plate, though this injury certainly clouds the likelihood of that scenario playing out. Manager A.J. Hinch voiced confidence in Alfredo Gonzalez, the lone alternative on Houston’s 40-man roster, as well as non-roster invitees Tyler Heineman and Roberto Pena, praising each catcher’s defensive abilities. Designated hitter Evan Gattis has plenty of experience at catcher as well, of course, but he got a late start to Spring Training due to surgery to repair a hernia.
The Ranaudo/Ross Jr trade was an absolute steal for my Sox. Ranaudo is AAA fodder who might be good enough for a spot start every now and again IF he figures out any control. Robbie Ross Jr on the other hand looks like he is going to develop into a nice lefty arm out of the BP. You can never have enough quality lefties, especially when you play in the AL East.
No one cares – this is an AL West thread.
And Ranaudo is on an AL West team now and he’s mentioned by name in this post. How is my post not relevant again?
You over value Ross too much here.
Ross is vastly overvalued in this comment. Is he a decent lefty pen piece, yeah, but as we all know, bullpen pitchers have a tendency to be very volatile. To this point, yeah it was a steal for the Red Sox, but that could change in the future. Ranaudo does still have at least four more years under Rangers control..
Exactly. Also, calling it a steal isn’t really saying a whole lot since Ranaudo hasn’t really gotten the chance to contribute at the major league level with Texas.
Ross was good one year and bad the next in Texas. Ranaudo has more control and more upside. Texas needed starting depth at the time of the trade and seeing as how they have an elite bullpen Ranaudo will be just fine starting every 5th day in AAA.
With that side I like Robby. He was a good dude and was a competitor on the mound.
Sogard might be a better fit for the Cardinals rather than Erick Aybar or Nick Ahmed. Sogard could fill in at ss until Peralta comes back from injury at the All-Star break, and then could serve as a nice utility player to fill in at 2b, SS and 3b.
Agree strongly with this, and Beane does have a history of dealing with Mozeliak and generally sends his longtime players to contenders – its a fine matchup. Sogard is more of an NL style player than an AL one, guys like Skip Schumaker are pretty much on Sogard’s level of talent and carved out long careers in the NL. The A’s have plenty of more interesting/cheaper depth in Chad Pinder & Tyler Ladendorf. Hope they are at least talking about this deal…
No One cares about your opinion
I’m curious…..what’s the difference between and AL and NL style player?
There is none. It’s just a myth someone created and fans just believed it. Fact is that we’re in an era where offense is hard to come by so all of MLB has to implement this so-called NL-style of play.
In theory, in the NL, a reserve player has “more opportunities” to get into the game with pinch hitting, double switches, etc. Also without the DH, there is one more “utility” spot available to an NL team than the AL teams.
Due to the DH, AL benches have one fewer player. Doesn’t that make the need to play multiple positions more important in the AL? One is the back up catcher. The other 3 need to be able to cover the other 7 positions defensively. In the NL, 4 bench players to cover 7 positions.
AL bench players likely start more games in place of the regulars. NL bench players likely get into more games late in the game.
I doubt the cards would want him. according to fangraphs his defense at short is slightly below league average, and his offense is replacement level at best
Chris Taylor for a reliever