Reds left-hander Alex Wood, who’s on the injured list with lower back tightness, isn’t nearing a return. While Wood is progressing in his recovery, it may have been “a little aggressive” on the Reds’ part to expect a mid-April debut, manager David Bell said Sunday (via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Given that Wood has been battling back problems since late February, he’ll need to build up his innings before taking a major league mound again, Nightengale notes. Wood’s situation is undoubtedly a significant disappointment for the Reds. After all, Cincinnati acquired the ex-Dodger’s final year of team control with the hope that he’d slot in near the top of its made-over rotation for the entire season.
More injury updates from around the league…
- The back and hamstring issues that forced Rays third baseman Matt Duffy to open the season on the injured list will shelve him until at least mid-May, Rodney Page of the Tampa Bay Times writes. This is the latest unfortunate injury-related development for Duffy, who missed 71 games two years ago and sat out another 30 during what was still a productive campaign in 2018. Yandy Diaz and Daniel Robertson have occupied third in Duffy’s absence so far this season.
- The Blue Jays have shut down lefty Clayton Richard for two weeks on account of a right knee stress reaction, Scott Mitchell of TSN reports. Richard, acquired from the Padres in the offseason, had been slated to make his Blue Jays debut against Baltimore on Monday. That start will instead go to righty Sean Reid-Foley, whom the Jays will need to recall from Triple-A Buffalo. Meanwhile, southpaw Ryan Borucki, who’s on the IL with elbow discomfort, is making progress but will miss at least one more start, manager Charlie Montoyo revealed Sunday (per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet).
- The Marlins announced that they’ve placed right fielder Garrett Cooper on the IL with a left calf strain. Cooper said he’ll sit out a few weeks, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com tweets. It’s the second consecutive early season injury for Cooper, who began 2018 as the Marlins’ starting right fielder before going down for months with a partially torn wrist tendon sheath. His newest injury led the Marlins to recall power-hitting outfielder Peter O’Brien from Triple-A New Orleans.
As long as Yandy Diaz is in the lineup. many Rays fans may ask “Matt who?”. Nice player when he plays, but he is an injury waiting to happen. And Yandy Diaz? Wow. I was bummed about losing Bauers, and still am, but this guy is a horse. Plenty of options available. (The only scary part is having Choi play regularly at first base…that could be an issue)
Choi has been pleasantly surprising at 1B. Duffy is a nice player but his complete lack of power is a problem as a corner infielder. I am with you on Bauers. Last season I got a Jake Bauers jersey for me AND my son LOL, but Yandy is as advertised thus far! That HR was a bullet to CF.
Oh come now. Watching Choi play is worth the price of admission; the guy has more fun playing than most MLBers do. And he can hit a bit.
He’ll be challenged; Diaz and Adames’ throwing issues are already apparent. But the guy’s a ton of fun.
Jeter Downs will be the best player in the Reds-Dodgers trade when it’s all said and done
I don’t think that’s saying much.
So O’Brien’s power hitting gets rave reviews?
He DOES NOT get rave reviews.
I was hoping for this!!!! It lives!!! Thank you!
His promotion to the Bigs again gets “RRs” …. as does any O’Brien sighting on MLBTR.
Long may the legend live!
I really have to cheer for Alex Wood. If the guy could just put together some healthy seasons where he gets 30 starts you could view him as a solid no.2 or strong no.3. Putting up back to back 150 IP seasons is pretty good these days but I cant help but hope for more for the guy.
Ive been a fan of him ever since he expressed his emotions and resentment for being traded from the Braves in 2015.
I keep remembering this deal with LAD enabled them to shed the albatross Bailey. So regardless of Wood actually being of value to the team or not, a positive result happened. I just cannot imagine why they wanted the fan base to believe he would be a viable option as a SP to start the season when he clearly never has been. Hype to sell tickets is probably what really happened.