The Blue Jays aren’t sure when second baseman Devon Travis will be ready to return to game action, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Manager John Gibbons seemed to suggest to Nicholson-Smith that the club could be without Travis, come Opening Day, as the 26-year-old’s recovery from knee surgery has been slower than the team expected. “To be honest I don’t know when he’s going to be back and ready to go,” said Gibbons. “It’s one of those things where if it costs him a couple of weeks, or whatever it might be, at the beginning of the season, so be it. … I expected him, to be honest, to be a little further along than he is.” As Nicholson-Smith points out, that could prove advantageous for out-of-options infielder Ryan Goins, who could break camp with the team if Travis ultimately starts the year on the disabled list. Goins and Darwin Barney, then, would presumably be the Jays’ primary options at second base, although Toronto has also been linked to Brett Lawrie since his surprising release by the White Sox last week.
More injury news from around the league…
- Scott Kazmir’s MRI revealed no signs of a serious injury in his problematic left hip, as ESPN’s Doug Padilla writes. Kazmir exited yesterday’s Cactus League start after throwing his first pitch of the second inning and expressed frustration about his hip following the game. It’s not clear when Kazmir will return to a mound for the Dodgers just yet, Padilla adds, though the 33-year-old told the media that he’s pain free and is only experiencing limited mobility.
- First baseman Matt Carpenter will be out for “at least another week” due to lower back tightness that has sidelined him since last Wednesday, writes Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. Carpenter, who will slide across the diamond for the Cardinals this season (with Jhonny Peralta manning third base), was forced to withdraw from the 2017 World Baseball Classic due to his back troubles.
- Dodgers non-roster invitee Henry Ramos will be out for a considerably longer amount of time (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick). Manager Dave Roberts revealed to the media on Tuesday that the soon-to-be 25-year-old outfielder will miss the next four to six weeks of action due to a sports hernia/right groin injury. Ramos, who batted .263/.306/.402 between Boston’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates last season, wasn’t likely to crack Los Angeles’ roster anyhow, of course, but he’ll now be delayed in beginning his minor league campaign as well.
- Marlins infielder Miguel Rojas was forced to exit Tuesday’s Grapefruit League game after being struck in the head on a throw down to second base from catcher Tomas Telis, writes Glenn Sattell of MLB.com. As Rojas explains the situation, the grass in front of second base was “really wet,” which caused Telis’ throw following a wild pitch to take an unexpected hop upon bouncing. “I wasn’t expecting the ball to go that high,” said Rojas. “I’m glad I could quickly turn my head. It hit me in the [side of the head] instead of my eye.” Rojas will undergo concussion testing after telling the training staff that he was “feeling a little dizzy and uncomfortable.”
Kazmir is only experiencing limited mobility? Does that mean he can barely walk?
No, it means he can’t pitch with his complete motion.
Sounds “normal” for Kaz.
By “normal” I meant:”on his way to the DL”
He is experiencing stiffness in his hip. The wording of this story literally means he is having trouble walking. Could be the next thing for Kazmir, who knows?
No not really. You can have stiffness in the hip that doesn’t affect your ability to walk, but effects your athletic performance. So essentially he’s have trouble firing the back leg and has no power due to the range of motion. The range of motion has to do with explosive opening of the hips. So unless your explosively opening your hips while walking I think he’s alright.
Not sure who is being too literal, you or me!
Who knows! I’d just be really worried if it’s degenerative. Thank goodness for insurance.
I would assume cutting down on walks would be helpful
Classic!
Get Kazmir a Hoveround.
He didn’t want to do it.
I’m not convinced that the jays should go for Laurie? Is he a clear better option than Barney
Yes. And Better than Goins.
For those of you who love Fangraphs and War they gave Barney a higher War than Carter for 2016.
Carter wasn’t good though lol.
At least Carter led the league in HR’s. Barney was a mediocre part time utility player. Fangraphs had the Tampa Bay Rays as contenders every yr. and the KC Royals as losers. When the Royals lost game 7 of the WS, Fangraphs arrogantly said they weren’t that good. Of course the next yr KC won the WS despite again having a poor fangraph’s outlook based on WAR. If you used traditional ROTO stats the “win” prediction is usually just as accurate as WAR. What the good teams use is much more complicated than War. Bill James has often said the most important part of player evaluation is understanding what the advanced stats do NOT explain. That’s why Billy Beane has never gotten to the WS. He refuses to believe that players like Cespedes & Donaldson can contribute more than just stats. They effect the production up and down the whole lineup.
The team with probably the biggest analytics department in all of baseball just won 103 games and the World Series. And the guy who assembled that analytics department won three more in Boston. Teams that are applying advanced stats are generally winning. Teams that were late to the game – think Phillies and DBacks – have been mired in mediocrity for a while.
As far as Beane, Oakland has been remarkably successful for a low-budget team. The playoffs can be a crapshoot, especially for teams without superstars, which Oakland rarely has.
All Chris Carter does is hit home runs. (Buddy Ryan joke duly noted)
When he is not hitting a home run he is fairly useless. Terrible defender, can’t run, strikes out 200+ times, etc.
He will hit you 40 HR, but be prepared for 600 empty AB’s the rest of the year.
Actually Theo learned from Bill James in Boston. I wouldn’t want Carter on my team. The point was Barney gives you useless AB’s without the HR threat. At least the hitters ahead of Carter get more good pitches to hit because of the HR threat. Fangraphs fails to take into account what Bill James calls the lineup effect. Beane also dismissed Cespedes’ affect on the lineup when he traded him from the team with the best record in MLB. After the trade the A,s lineup collapsed Beane in Moneyball talks about OBP. The reason that team won games was Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Lidle were the best rotation in BB and they all stayed healthy. They had a solid closer and Tejada won the MVP (with a little roid help). As for the Donaldson trade that was purely Beane saying “no one is bigger then me”.
How much better is Lawrie going to be? He used to be known to be great defensively, which if you look at DRS and UZI he’s been terrible.
Bruh I love going; give the poor guy a chance
He has shown next to nothing with the bat.
*goins
I think a platoon between Goins and Barney is better than lawrie at least until Travis gets back
Nothing wrong with his hip, he just can’t throw over 85 because of it. Sounds perfectly healthy to me.
The LAD’s need to be creative with their rotation. Kershaw needs to start every 5th day. Maeda & Hill need an extra day of rest.. Urias needs his innings limited. Kazmir, McCarthy & Ryu need to be “spot started” when health allows. If they get lucky with these guy’s health and rest needs, the minor league depth will be used very few times. The good news is they can make liberal use of the new 10 day DL and minor league options to get thru the yr. with the first 4 healthy and rested for the playoffs.
I agree. We need a 4th starter and bring Urias into the 5th spot. Kaz, McCarthy
They don’t really need to be to creative barring injury. You have 1-3 set essentially then McCarthy and Wood most likely set for #4
The hope is Urias goes to extended and then they just let him go instead of interrupting his season. Ryu Kaz most likely stay back and open on DL
Then you just lineup up Stewart,Strip or Oaks, and Sborz with Hill, Maeda, and the number 4. They can take advantage of the 10 day dl when the schedule permits and use the 7th/mop up spot in the bullpen as a shuttle service
The “creative” part is needed because: 1. Maeda’s ERA was a full run less with an extra day rest. 2. Hill has never stayed healthy if they give him the ball every 5th day. 3. Urias will have his innings limited (better during the season then a Sept. shut down — think “Strasberg”.
Oh no trust me I get your point. My point was they don’t have to get to creative. There are two things though. The first is eventually they will continue to work Maeda and lean him to a regular starters load. The second if they start Urias late they don’t have to worry about shutting him down or interrupting his season. Here’s why I have a problem with interrupting his season: you essentially have to piggy back his starts to keep his innings in check and you can’t keep interrupting his seasons. The pen paid dearly last year, and I’m not sure this is a pen you can or would want to tax.
Essentially you have to flip one or both of McCarthy/Kaz. It just won’t work, especially since injury history ensures they can’t work out of the pen. So the first month or two barring a injury will most likely be standard quo.
You call it standard quo. I call it insanity ie. doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result.
Not really when you look at it objectively and understand there are other considerations at play. A big consideration being trying to limit Urias’s innings and most likely his service time so he’s not super two eligible. The next is the different schedule when there are essentially very few days off the first month. The third trying to continue to showcase McCarthy or Kaz. Fact remains if they can’t compete with Kersh, Hill, Maeda, Wood,
Just play Pearce at second. No need to bring in Lawrie