Diamondbacks outfielder Steven Souza Jr. left the team’s game Wednesday with an apparent right shoulder injury, Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic reports. There’s no word on the severity yet, but the Diamondbacks are left to hope it’s nothing serious after acquiring Souza from the Rays last month. The 28-year-old Souza posted his best season in 2017, hitting .239/.351/.459 with 30 home runs in 617 plate appearances en route to 3.7 fWAR. If healthy, he should help make up for the D-backs’ offseason loss of outfielder J.D. Martinez, who signed with the Red Sox.
And now for the latest from the AL West…
- Rangers reliever Tim Lincecum doesn’t expect to be ready for Opening Day, which he revealed Tuesday after throwing two innings of batting practice (via TR Sullivan of MLB.com). “Doesn’t look like it,” he said. “I still have some stuff to refine. I wasn’t extremely happy with the day. I was happy with the level of work. I’ve got a lot of refining to do.” Lincecum is only two weeks removed from signing with the Rangers, and he, of course, didn’t pitch competitively at all in 2017. Tuesday’s BP session was his second since joining the Rangers, and he’ll need at least one more before potentially pitching in a minor league game.
- First baseman Chris Carter is unlikely to make the Angels, Maria Guardado of MLB.com writes. That’s not surprising, given that Carter’s a minor league signee who’s not on the Halos’ 40-man roster. Guardado notes that there’s no obvious path to playing time for Carter at first in Anaheim, which has Albert Pujols and Luis Valbuena. Plus, those two and Shohei Ohtani figure to be among their designated hitter options, taking away another potential route to the majors for Carter. The 31-year-old Carter will be able to refuse a minor league assignment if he doesn’t make the Halos, though he did spend a solid chunk of last season with the A’s Triple-A affiliate. That came just one year after the then-Brewer co-led the National League in home runs (41). Because of his dreadful 2017, which he began with the Yankees, Carter went unsigned until late February.
- Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, on the shelf the past few weeks because of left hand surgery, is progressing in his recovery, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com writes. He’s still likely to begin the season on the disabled list, however, according to McTaggart, and then he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension for an insensitive gesture directed at then-Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish in last year’s World Series. The Astros are likely to use Marwin Gonzalez at first in Gurriel’s absence, and J.D. Davis and Tyler White are currently fighting for a backup role. “It’s 1A and 1B, it’s not like one is separating themselves from the other. Eventually, we’ll have to make a decision,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Davis and White on Wednesday (via Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).
I said they probably give Lincecum a decent amount of AAA outings and bring him up around the middle of May. That lets him work on stuff, build some durability, and let’s the rangers evaluate how he’s pitching.
More like mid-April.
I think the Angels are limited on how much time he spends in AAA as he signed an MLB contract not a minors deal.
angels?..
KBO calls, Carter. You’ll become the next Eric Thames.
Except he has potential for more power!!
If he can hit around 40 home runs in The US, think of what he could do overseas.
insensitive gesture
————–
….racist gesture. It’s not the same thing.
Agreed.
This.
I agree it’s a bit strange to call it an “insensitive gesture”.. it was pretty blatant..
Considering what Yunel Escobar did a few years back was called a “racial slur” by the media.
Silly argument, you are over sensitive on these things. For starters, he did not make any bad sign towards asian races. Thats the way they have their eyes! He just pulled his eyes making it look asian. Plus, he did it in the dogout, apologized and Yu was cool with it!
I think this is coming strong on him ‘cause he is latino. You see on Tv every week how people paint themselves orange to imitate Trump and no one says crap
Btw, I live in Asia. There’s nothing to be shame of by the shape of their eyes. Women are gorgeous!
Thank you for your opinion on the matter. Dually noted. I guess bringing politics to this convo helps your narrative.
Oh yeah you live in Asia? Well that’s quite convenient for your argument. Hey guys it wasn’t racist cause this Astro fan who happens to live in Asia said so.
Pro-trump “that isn’t racist i know from experience” guy that lives in Asia… hmmm you must live in Moscow huh?
Call it like it is – Gurriel made a racist gesture. “Insensitive” downplays how offensive it was.
Agreed. He deserves a stricter sentence too.
Not really. Guy made a mistake, owned up to it like a professional and a decent person and hasn’t had any notable repeat. He gets it. We get it. We move on (or some don’t).
I don’t know about “stricter sentences”. Let’s just say that “insensitive gestures” don’t really deserve punishment (because it’s not the MLB’s job to protect sensitive people from having their feelings hurt), but things that objectively hurt the sport (and racism clearly does: the sport depends on players of all races) should be deterred.
There’s no reason to believe that this punishment is not enough to deter future transgressions….so we’re good. If it turns out that this punishment didn’t work, then sure, let’s try stricter punishment. But I seriously doubt there’ll be a need. Gurriel’s suspension sent a very clear message, and I’m sure the Astros delivered and equally clear message to him, internally.
I wish it was the 80s again. Guy who f’s up gets an upper nineties heater in his shoulder blades and instead of blah blah garbage on message boards we’d all be like.. “well.. f’er got what he deserved” end of story. But we can’t do that today… it hurts peoples feelings.
Amen
Throwing a 90+ mph fastball near a guy’s face usually does more than hurt some feelings, actually.
Not the head, never toward the head even if it is intentional, but pitching inside to him is acceptable.
Yes, cuz shoulder blades = head.
You don’t understand human anatomy, do you?
I thought Carter had a good spring
A.J. Reed could use a trade to a new team.