Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel is undergoing surgery today to remove the hook of his left hamate bone, skipper A.J. Hinch told reporters including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart (Twitter link).
Houston GM Jeff Luhnow says the team expects to be without Gurriel for about five to six weeks, per Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (Twitter links). Clearly, then, the rehab period will delay Gurriel’s start to the 2018 season. In this case, says Luhnow, it was a years-old injury that only just became symptomatic.
While injuries to the hamate — a hand bone near the wrist — are common for hitters, that doesn’t mean they aren’t reasonably significant. Those interested in learning more should check out this detailed examination of the subject from Michael Jong of SB Nation.
That limited recovery time is obviously promising, though hamate injuries have a reputation for sapping a hitter’s power upon his return to action. This interesting look from of SB Nation’s Stuart Wallace suggests, though, that any shorter-term loss of pop does not generally turn into a long-term impediment.
For the ’Stros, it’s perhaps at least preferable for the injury to occur now rather than during the season. Gurriel will still need to serve a five-game suspension, though the injury situation may allow the team to manage that more easily.
Regardless of the specifics, Houston will have to create a fill-in plan. An open-market option seems unlikely with so many internal possibilities. Marwin Gonzalez could step in at first, with the team also giving some opportunities to Tyler White, A.J. Reed, or J.D. Davis.
Though clearly the preference would be for the 33-year-old Gurriel to pick up where he left off in 2017, the Astros likely won’t mind the idea of getting a longer look at some of those players. And any hit to the team’s expectations will be minimal. While Gurriel produced a strong .299/.332/.486 slash line with 18 home runs last year, he’s not exactly a top-end hitter as a first baseman. (A third bagger by trade, Gurriel has been pushed to the other corner by Alex Bregman.)
Hopefully it’s not an Asian doctor
Lol . I’m sure their will be no racial issues lol
Hard to make Asian eyes with an injured hand.
Wells they should make him fully rehab and play 1 game and the give him the 5 gave banned.
How does this affect his suspension? I guess he serves it while on the DL, only difference is he won’t get paid those 5 days. Is that correct?
I don’t believe you can serve a suspension while on the DL, but I could be wrong.
I would think that his 5 games would start right after coming back
Yes but they will time it to where they take him off the DL 5 days before being ready so when he is actually ready he can play right away.
I still find it amazing that MLB basically gave this guy a free pass for making a racist gesture instead of making an example of him. And also sad that the Astro fans gave him a standing ovation before his AB the next game after he made the gesture.
The dude apologized. Yeah, what he did is messed up. You never did anything that was racist like that? How many of us haven’t pulled the sides of our eyes to do that? Probably a low % of the non-asian population.
I’m Asian and I gotta be honest, I did that too
Sure, maybe as a kid. But this dude’s a grown man playing a professional sport on national television. A little different.
Exactly.
With a Japanese mother and comes from a completely different culture than ours. Darvish didn’t take offense, neither should white people.
Manfred’s explanation that he didn’t feel it was right to penalize the entire team by suspending Gurriel during the WS was pure garbage. What exactly does a player have to do to get suspended in the post season?
Weren’t Yankee fans chanting hurricane Harvey or Harvey at Astro players during the ALCS?
Like Yankee fans know class.
You sound like a great teacher.
Isn’t there a difference between a fan and a MLB player who are usually looked up to by children. What a bad argument man.
Not at game 4 at least I was there
He was sent to sensitivity training. Maybe instead of a punitive action, it’s better to educate him.
Instead of teaching him a lesson, I’m glad they taught him a lesson.
I also don’t think this hurts the team. White, Reed, Davis, and Marwin are all great options. One of them will deliver.
I agree 100%
You’re still angry about the alcs
Let’s be real. It’s sad but every single fan base in the mlb would’ve gave him an ovation. It’s a sports fans culture. And no, your team isn’t the exception
It’ll be different if he was white
Is what it is
Good ole’ karma folks
Oh definitely karma since it’s his hand/wrist….which he used to make the racist gesture. Idk how much more karma it could have been.
Isn’t it funny how certain groups of people care less about trivial bs than others? If Gurriel had made a comment or gesture that was offensive to black people you can bet your ass Al Sharpton or some other POS would’ve been blowing the situation up into a bigger deal than what it is. Luckily for Gurriel, his gesture was directed at the Asian community and they’re secure enough to not let a stupid gesture made by a baseball player bother them too much. Was it a stupid thing to do? Yeah, of course. Does it mean he’s a bad person or a racist? Not necessarily. Show me someone who has never made a racist joke or comment and I will show you a liar.
It’s a wonderment of semantics that sometimes the longest comments can say the least.
Way to get a dig in on the black community there.
Way to assume Al Sharpton = the black community there.
I’ve never made a racist joke or gesture at work, and I’m not lying. I’ve always been well aware that if I did, I’d likely be fired.
So Bregman is not a top end hitter either? You felt the need to state that YG was not a top end hitter as a 1B. But he posted better numbers that Bregman. So according to you YG would be more valuable at 3B? And a loss of Bregman would be minimal if he played 1B?
As you continue to move down the defensive spectrum offense becomes more important. I don’t really know what so controversial about that. Gurrirel would be more valuable at 3rd if he could pick it like Bergman. I think that point has come to play out on the FA market pretty clearly. 1bs aren’t to hard to find or replace on the trade market.
Good thing we have Marwin! Astros need to resign Marwin give the guy 5 years 90 mil
Dumb and will never happen.
Domonic Brown broke his hamate bone in 2011 and was never the same.
The Darvish’s send their regards
Giancarlo Stanton broke his and went on to become MVP.