The White Sox will activate righty James Shields to make a start on Sunday, as JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago reports (Twitter links). That’ll leave plenty of time for the veteran to show not only that he’s back from a lat strain, but also that he still has some gas left in the tank. Shields, 35, turned in three solid starts to open the year after a terrible 2016 season. Possible trade suitors will be looking to see whether he can manage extended productivity between now and the deadline.
Here’s more on the injury front:
- Mets second baseman Neil Walker appeared to suffer a left hamstring injury while trying to leg out a bunt single in tonight’s game. The club did not reveal any details in an official announcement, though the team did state that Walker is already slated to undergo an MRI tomorrow. Not coincidentally, perhaps, infielder Gavin Cecchini was removed from the Triple-A Las Vegas lineup, as Betsy Helfand of the Las Vegas Review Journal tweets.
- There were also some fresh concerns on the pitching side of the equation for the Mets. Matt Harvey was hooked after four innings and 58 pitches, as David Lennon of Newsday reports (Twitter links). He’ll head in for a medical check tomorrow after what he called a “fatigued” outing in which his fastball velocity dropped as low as 87 mph — a level that, per Harvey, he hadn’t visited since he was a freshman in high school. Also, before the game, the Mets placed lefty Josh Smoker on the DL with a left shoulder strain. New York was forced to lean on the reliever for four innings and 81 pitches last night. Righty Rafael Montero will return to the majors in his stead.
- The Red Sox saw another starter leave with an injury tonight, as southpaw Brian Johnson exited with what the team is calling left shoulder discomfort, as Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com reports. While all involved expressed hope that the issue wouldn’t turn out to be anything significant, Johnson will be given a full checkup in Boston tomorrow to be sure.
- The Cubs are weighing a DL move for Ben Zobrist, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report. His left wrist isn’t healing up as hoped, so Zobrist will be looked at more closely tomorrow. If he’s not able to suit up, then a DL placement seems likely.
- There’s some positive news on Angels southpaw Tyler Skaggs. As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets, the 25-year-old is heading to the team’s spring complex with an eye on making back to the majors by early July. Hell be hoping to finally put an end to the string of injuries that have slowed his promising career. Skaggs is currently working back from an oblique strain.
- Also now looking toward a return is Rangers lefty Cole Hamels. As Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, Hamels could take a rehab start on Friday — the same day that Tyson Ross is set to make his Rangers debut. That could potentially line Hamels up to return to the majors before month’s end. That’s promising news for a Texas team that is off to a middling start to the season. The Rangers are also likely to welcome back first baseman Mike Napoli and outfielder Carlos Gomez in the coming days.
- Things aren’t looking as promising for Padres righty Jarred Cosart. According to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, on Twitter, Cosart has been diagnosed with a flexor strain. He’s not yet ready to begin throwing and will partake in some rehab efforts at the club’s spring facility.
- Finally, the Dodgers are holding their breath as prized young lefty Julio Urias reports to Dr. Neal ElAttrache for a look at his shoulder. As Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter links), soreness in the joint has forced the 20-year-old to the DL at Triple-A. Things haven’t gone as hoped this year for Urias, who showed immense promise in 2016. He largely struggled in five MLB starts and was carrying higher-than-usual walk totals at Triple-A.
While the Dodgers do have some amazing SP depth and talent, a Uriah shoulder injury is concerning…
They’d be in a Heap of trouble.
This is probably the comment of the day, and will unfortunately go over a lot of heads.
Well done.
plus 1
Thanks and the really funny part is the auto-moderation on this board won’t even allow me to explain the reference!
I’m sure Julio is very very humble about it.
Miracle they got as decent of a starts as they did out of Johnson and now? It’s back to Vazquez/hendrick/owens to make who knows how many starts, which is worse of an option than was johnson.. Hard to believe, but it is.. Those 3 are trouble waiting to happen.
I thought Boston was supposed to run away with it this season? Baseball. Like no other sport when it comes to performance on the field versus projected performance on a spreadsheet.
BoSox are performing well. To be fair, they have been injured in key spots but still have the 3rd best record in the AL. I don’t think losing Panda made a great difference but losing all the backups including Sub Bock Holt did. Losing David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, Tyler Thornburg and inning eating knuckler like Steven Wright would hurt any team.
To compare, the Mets, Mariners and Rangers have also been devastated by injuries and are not living up to predictions. Since losing their SPs, the Astros are struggling.
It’s a combination of hubris from the fan base and unrealistic expectations on the part of the club and the media in Boston. Every prospect’s a future All Star… and a WS appearance is possible for the “Saux” team.
for “every” Saux team.
Don’t be like that. some of us ( a few) were Sox fans in the 60’s when the team was the dredge of the East.. Along with the Yankees. AL also before there were separate East/West divisions..
Some of us also suffered thru a 99 win season without a actual playoff series (1978). Those of us that have been in the trenches for well over 50y don’t need this nonsense.
You should be teaching some more sense to your fellow fans then.
Cecchini was interviewed as he walked off his
flight from Portland. “I’m not sure why I flew from Vegas to Portland to catch the red eye flight to NY, though the Mets tend to do things on the cheap”.
Matt Harvey should be declared a free agent due to mismanagement of his physical health over the past three seasons.
That quote fits the Mets perfectly…They are just a mess and a half..
Not to mention, somehow they have managed to basically screw up the health of ~6-7 all-star caliber pitchers..I just hope it isn’t too late to where poor mismanagement has ruined any of their careers…
The problems really start with Wilpon’s personal finances. Mets fans are among the many victims of the “Wizard of Lies”.
@mikeyank really clever fake quote… you should post more often…
Shields “three solid starts to open the year” included a 5.35 FIP. No thanks.
I’m not even going to pretend to know what FIP is but actually watching him pitch, he was surprisingly good. I thought going into the season he would get 5 starts, look like he did last year and be DFA’d.
If the halos can still be in the wc race when Skaggs, trout, bailey, bedrosian and perhaps Richards, all come back they’ll be a new contender
They don’t get as much pub as the other injured teams, but LAA has a ton of significant injuries, including a solid rotation and bullpen:
Trout
RIchards
Skaggs
Heaney
Tropeano
Shoe (soon to be)
Bedrock
Bailey
Street
And that’s not counting guys who have missed time already this year:
Pujols, Escobar, Maybin
or have not performed well at all: Calhoun, Espinoza (and the aforementioned Pujols).
How is that team over .500?
DESTINY!!!!!
Their bullpen has basically kept them afloat. All but one reliever on their current roster have ERA’s in the 2.00’s. They’ve balanced out what has been an average rotation at best, with JC Ramirez pulling off a surprising performance. There’s a few under the radar arms (such as Middleton and Bridwell) they’ve tapped into and have gotten good results from so far. Plus, on the offensive end, they’re back at the top in the AL in stolen bases, which has helped them scratch and claw for runs when needed. Maybin and Calhoun have been red hot, and EY Jr. is proving a spark. They’ve also played some run stealing defense. They’re basically the same kind of team they had 10 years ago, but without a John Lackey or those other work horse types they had in their rotation at the time. If they had those (perhaps Richards, Heaney, Skaggs, etc.), they’d have a WC spot and possibly somewhere much closer to the Astros. They’re holding the fort without Trout, and he’s recovering very quickly. They’re also due to get Bedrosian and Skaggs back soon. So they might soon be in a position to go on a run. I remember hearing Harold Reynolds and Eric Byrnes telling people on MLB Network during the offseason to watch out for the Angels. Despite their struggles to get back to the playoffs, they’re a team fans should never sleep on.
Harold Reynolds and others also said they don’t buy the angels because they don’t have a farm system and they don’t have the depth in the rotation, I can agree to an extent to them but they also need more bats in the line up behind trout and pujols. maybe in the offseason they make a couple moves
And yet they’ve been able to come me up with JC Ramirez holding the fort in place of Garrett Richards. Alex Meyer has been shaky but has the lowest ERA among Angels starters at 4.08. Parker Bridwell was recently called up and gave them a good start. Then you have Keynan Middleton off to a good start in the bullpen. Starting pitching depth, and depth in general, really only exist during the season of players are performing. It applies to players at the top of the depth chart as well. Depth can created by good performances but can also be depleted by the opposite. A good farm system isn’t automatically going to improve a team in the pennant race mid-season. In most cases, a team in the hunt is going to use that farm system to make trades at the deadline to get experienced major league talent to help them win a playoff spot. So I don’t buy Reynolds or other analysts not buying into the Angels based on what you said they said. It’ll come down to how well their players perform down the stretch. They have the bats they need already. But they’ve gotten a lot of bad starts from players. But guys like Maybin and Calhoun are coming around right when they need to.
I hope Shields pitches good enough that it catches a team attention and we can get rid of him.