Blue Jays outfield prospect Anthony Alford will miss the next three to six weeks with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. Obviously, that takes the highly touted 23-year-old out of consideration for a spot on the Opening Day roster, though he was likely facing an uphill battle in that regard anyhow, given the crowded outfield mix in Toronto and a presumptive desire for Alford to get everyday at-bats. A third-round pick in 2012, Alford has been lauded as one of the game’s top 100 prospects by virtually every major outlet in the past three seasons. He’s viewed as a key piece of the Blue Jays’ future, although despite making his MLB debut last season, he still has just three Triple-A games and 68 Double-A games on his minor league resume. The injury could cost him as much as a month of the season, but it still seems quite plausible that he could return to the big leagues late in the 2018 season with more minor league seasoning.
A bit more from around the American League:
- Right-hander Luke Bard is turning some heads in Angels camp as he vies for a spot in the big league bullpen, writes Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times. The younger brother of former Red Sox setup man Daniel Bard, Luke was selected by the Angels out of the Twins organization in the Rule 5 Draft back in December. The 27-year-old was a supplemental first-rounder back in 2012 but has had his development slowed by shoulder and hip surgeries. Finally healthy in 2017, Bard turned in a 2.76 ERA with 13.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 32 percent ground-ball rate in 65 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. Bard’s spring ERA is skewed by one outing where he was rocked for five runs in just a third of an inning, but he’s impressed manager Mike Scioscia in the remainder of his outings and expressed a willingness to work multi-inning stints out of the ’pen. “His stuff is good, he spins the ball well, and hopefully he’s going to be a multi-inning guy,” Scioscia tells DiGiovanna. “With the makeup of our club, multi-inning [relievers] are really important.”
- The signing of Logan Morrison made switch-hitting Kennys Vargas somewhat of an odd man out with the Twins, writes MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. According to Bollinger, Vargas is expected to be placed on outright waivers at the end of camp, and the Twins are hopeful that he can clear and stick with the organization. The switch-hitting 27-year-old is listed at a towering 6’5″, 275 pounds in this year’s media guide, and while he’s shown some power in the bigs (.185 ISO, 35 homers in 859 PAs), he’s also whiffed at a 29.2 percent clip and posted a meager .311 OBP. Given the manner in which clubs have begun to devalue OBP-challenged sluggers with limited defensive capabilities — Vargas is strictly a first baseman/DH — there’s perhaps a possibility that he could make it through waivers and remain with the club.
- Right-hander Mike Fiers’ struggles this spring haven’t yet put his rotation spot in jeopardy, though Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire suggested that the 32-year-old offseason signee would be well-served to show some positive signs in the final weeks of camp (via Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press). “We’re planning on this guy being in,” Gardenhire said of Fiers, who has been torched for 12 runs (including four homers) in 11 1/3 frames this spring. “…But at the end of the day, when we get down to the end here, we have to make some decisions and we’re going to go with the guys that are getting it done and right now, he’s just gotta fight through it because he’s a veteran.” Gardenhire later added that Fiers’ veteran status will buy him a bit more leeway than the team’s younger arms. As Fenech notes, Fiers has been unequivocally outpitched by lefty Daniel Norris, but Norris has a minor league option remaining and could head to Triple-A to open the season.
The idea of putting Mike Fiers, let alone a bad Mike Fiers, and Frankie Liriano into the rotation of a rebuilding team instead of Daniel Norris is the most head scratching thing I’ve seen in a while.
I would do the same. Get a prospect back at the deadline if either show any success this year. Give Norris a chance to improve in AAA. He was pushed up quickly by the Jays in the first place.
Except Liriano will be exposed as a starter. He should only be facing lefties. That is the only way he’s going to get any value back at the trade deadline… As a left-handed specialist.
While that should be true, half a season of Liriano got the Jays Hernandez at last years deadline. I doubt someone’s going to do that again though this year
Taking Aoki’s remaining salary is what got them Teoscar
Fiers had trouble with HR’s last season. Not a good sign to see it continuing. Glad the orioles “missed out” on him. I can’t imagine how many Hrs he’d be giving up in OPACY.
*Fiers and the entire MLB
Nice
Agreed. Let’s see if these veterans can give us anything. Also, putting Norris at AAA might take some of the pressure off of him, help him figure it out, prevent injuries (?), etc. If one or both of the veteran stinks, and Norris is tearing it up at AAA, then they will certainly call him up without much hesitation. I sure do love Norris’ upside…
Norris was rushed up quickly by the Jays. Lol. Is that a joke? He had nearly a full year at AAA and overall, at every level, he pitched well.
If Vargas is on waivers I would imagine nobody swings a minor deal for Tommy Joseph. Have to think vargas is the better of the two 1B only guys.
Does Vargas turn into the next David Ortiz? Twins drop a big power bat that turns into a huge Star with different team? He kind of looks like Ortiz too
His nickname is lil papi
I doubt Vargas would get the Media and MLB to look the other way, if he took David Ortiz’s special vitamins.
> there’s perhaps a possibility
Baseball blogs have the best writing.
Angels struck gold with Bridwell (Orioles) last year and look to do the same with Bard (Twins) this year. Keep on going Eppler.