Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is dealing with what he has described as a case of tennis elbow, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports. The veteran says that he suffered the malady due to an active offseason workout program. While he’s set to be shut down for about two weeks, Gonzalez says he expects to be back to full strength after some rest. Chase Utley is expected to see some time in camp at first, McCullough notes, as the team prepares in the event that Gonzalez does end up missing some time early.
Here’s more from the NL West:
- The Giants may have the game’s most interesting aggregation of veterans competing for limited bench roles in camp, as Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News writes. “No promises, no guarantees,” GM Bobby Evans said of the signing of Aaron Hill. “Just creating competition. We’ll see how it plays out.” If there is a drawback to the large number of competitors, it’s probably the lack of reps available to young players — particularly top prospect Christian Arroyo. However, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area writes, GM Bobby Evans says that the organization already feels confident that Arroyo is capable of handling the bat at the major league level, suggesting that the club doesn’t need a long look this spring to determine his timeline.
- As Baggarly notes, the right-handed-hitting Hill is competing to some extent not only with the array of infielders, but also players such as Michael Morse for a role as a righty bench bat. Morse returned to San Francisco after unexpectedly hammering out a deal at Hunter Pence’s wedding — an interesting story that also comes via Baggarly. Perhaps the single most intriguing player in camp, though, is Korean infielder Jae-gyun Hwang. As Baggarly also writes, agent Han Lee says that the KBO star is committed to pitting himself against MLB pitching. “A lot of people assume if he doesn’t make it, he’s just going to run back to Korea, but that’s not his mentality,” says Lee. “I’ve told him it’s very much possible he could start at Sacramento, and if that’s the case, he’ll just have to work his way up.”
- Former Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart discussed his tenure in a recent appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (audio link). Stewart expressed disappointment with the fact that he wasn’t given a longer leash in Arizona, suggesting he hadn’t received a “true opportunity to do the job.” That said, he acknowledged the error behind one of the moves that perhaps helped spell the end of his time in Arizona — the infamous deal that sent Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte, and Aaron Blair to the Braves for Shelby Miller. “My gut that whole time said that I should not move Dansby Swanson,” he said, though he stressed that he still believes in Miller. “If anything, maybe substituting [him] with another player” would have been something he would like to “have a redo” on, said Stewart.
Call me crazy but maybe Stewart wasn’t the problem as once thought. The Dbacks seemed to have found their scape goat.
Not sure where you are getting that. His comments just show how out of touch he is.
This is a guy who suggested Fangraphs’ algorithm intentionally underrated his organization.
I remember when Touki Toussaint was traded for a salary dump.
then again he hasn’t made much impact either
Just a top 10 prospect on almost any teams top prospect list. Wouldn’t say he hasn’t made much impact
Yeah, at the ripe age of 20 seems like he would have a cy young by now.
Sarcasm doesn’t run deep I guess…..
Doesn;t translate well over the web especially with the topic at hand
yeah, silly arizona, cutting bait before he sunk that franchise any further /s
stewart cries as good or better as a gm as he did as a player
Miller to Braves
Blair to DBacks
Get it done!
Haha I’d be happy as a braves fan to see that miller has much more upside than Blair. All I see Blair doing is being a spot starter and swing man out of the pen if he remains in Atlanta for 6 years
It’s definitely an interesting group of veterans that the Giants have signed, but who do we all see as realistically making the team? Surely Gillespie and Tomlinson will be there… but who else??
pullin for hwang, want to see what he’s got.
Yeah, and they didn’t even mention that Rollins is in camp too.
I guess the bench will be:
Hundley
Gillaspie
Hwang
Parker/Williamson
Hernandez
Bochy could also elect to go with 8 relievers again.
I think Tomlinson could beat out Gillaspie or Hwang or even Hernandez easily if he worked hard enough.
Stewart should’ve been given more time in Arizona. He could’ve turned goldschmidt into three AA lottery tickets or package Lamb with Ray to acquire the non-fluke season that sandy leon had.
I’ll miss Dave Stewart. IMO he was the greatest GM the Braves ever had.
OK that made me chuckle
Spot on
Gold sir. Gold!
Someone asked an NHL GM once what made him a good GM, his reply was (more or less) that he “knew who the bad GM’s were and called them. Often.”
John Hart saw Stewart coming a mile away.
Let’s face it he was awful as a GM
Dave Dombrowski is one of the best traders in MLB history and IMO the best ever. However, his first big name trade was a stinker: He gave away SP Randy Johnson and SP Brian Holman (3-year SP until arm injury ended his career) for Mark Langston (for 4 months).
Dave Stewarts’ gut….and everyone else on the planet….knew he shouldn’t have included Dansby Swanson in that trade.
K.
Meanwhile, the White Sox want a bigger package for Quintana than the one everyone agrees was a laughably one sided overpay. No thanks.
Are there two Christian Arroyos in the SF Giants farm system? The link leads to him but it’s only batting stats as an infielder?
Nope. He’s a SS.
Nope. Although I wish there was.
Anyone wanna bet that Adrian Gonzales ends up being the 2017 version of 2016 Andre Ethier? It always starts out with “we’re shutting him down for 2 weeks”, morphs into an MRI, then leads to bone fragments being removed, then he’ll be back by the all star break, then finally we’re shutting him down or late September at best. I sure hope Bellinger is ready?????
Nope I think it’s just some rest. He’ll be fine
You mean, he’s going to break his leg?
NO Dodger EVER returns from an injury on time. I’ll be surprised if he gets any AB’s in Arizona
AGon was already the regular with the biggest potential for age-related decline anyway. This can’t be good.
It’s his right elbow meaning it’s top hand/glove hand that’s a little bit of an overreaction. Calm down people.
Let’s not rule out long term injuries. Treating tennis elbow with bag of ice. Drops bag of ice. Bag of ice breaks open. Slips on bag of ice. ?????. 60 day DL.
Left handed hitter, right hand is the bottom hand.
Can anyone tell me why A-Go was playing tennis? Maybe he and David Ortiz got together.
That’s a joke right?
Here comes Bellinger. Woot woot