Injury Notes: Benintendi, Bedrosian, Minor, Zimmermann, Cobb

Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi had to be helped off the field last night following a slip on the basepaths during which his ankle rolled significantly and his knee bent in an awkward direction (video link). The Red Sox are calling the injury a left knee sprain, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Abraham also tweets that with Benintendi sure to be out of the lineup for Thursday’s afternoon game, the team could wait until Friday’s return to Boston to send Benintendi for an MRI. The 22-year-old Benintendi, whom the Sox selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2015 draft, has batted an outstanding .324/.365/.485 through his first 74 big league plate appearances. The Red Sox did just get Chris Young back from the disabled list, but losing Benintendi for any significant period of time would of course be a substantial setback for Boston.

A few more notable injury stories from around the league…

• The Angels announced on Wednesday that doctors have discovered a blood clot in the upper right arm of breakout reliever Cam Bedrosian. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes, the 24-year-old will see a vascular specialist before a next step is determined, but season-ending surgery is a possibility. Bedrosian was already on the disabled list due to tendinitis in his right middle finger. If this new issue does end his season, he’ll wrap up the year with a scintillating 1.12 ERA, 11.4 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 49.5 percent ground-ball rate in 40 1/3 innings.
• Left-hander Mike Minor has been shut down for the year by the Royals, GM Dayton Moore told reporters, including Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star (Twitter link). Minor, 28, signed a two-year, $7.25MM contract with a mutual option this offseason but ultimately will miss the entire 2016 season — the second straight year in which shoulder problems have prevented him from being able to set foot on a Major League mound. The longtime Braves lefty last pitched in 2014, posting a 4.77 ERA in 145 1/3 innings and has a career 4.10 ERA in 652 2/3 innings with Atlanta. His backloaded contract only calls for him to earn $2MM this season.
• The Tigers announced this morning that right-hander Jordan Zimmermann will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo on Friday. Zimmermann has pitched for Detroit just once since June 30, lasting just 1 2/3 innings in his lone start back from a neck strain that sidelined him for the entire month of July. After that abbreviated return, Zimmermann went back on the DL with a lat strain, but he’ll look to make his return to the Tigers early next month. A healthy Zimmermann would be a breath of fresh air for Detroit, as the team currently sits just three games back from a Wild Card spot and 5.5 back from the division-leading Indians.
• After 15 months of rehab from Tommy John surgery, right-hander Alex Cobb is lining up to make his return to the Rays’ rotation next weekend, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Cobb has already made seven rehab appearances and is set to make one final Triple-A start on Saturday before being activated on Sept. 2 or 3, per Topkin. Cobb hasn’t pitched for the Rays since the end of the 2014 season, as he initially suffered the injury that preceded his UCL tear in Spring Training 2015. The timing on that deal was remarkably poor, Topkin notes, as Cobb’s agents were in discussion with the Rays about an extension at the time of his initial injury.