The latest on four of the American League East’s five teams…
- As of three weeks ago, the Rays expected injured infielder Brandon Lowe to miss the rest of the regular season. That might not happen, though, as manager Kevin Cash suggested Friday that Lowe and right-hander Yonny Chirinos could return, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets. Lowe was amid one of the league’s best rookie seasons when he went down July 3 with a shin injury, while Chirinos was among the Rays’ top starters before landing on the shelf Aug. 5 with a finger injury. Despite their ongoing absences, Tampa Bay continues to hold an American League wild-card spot, albeit by the thinnest of margins. The Rays are a half-game up on the Indians for the league’s No. 5 seed.
- It’s in question how much more the injury-plagued Yankees will get from catcher Gary Sanchez and designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion this season. Sanchez suffered a strained groin Thursday, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. The Yankees are “hopeful” he’ll come back this year, Ackert writes. Meanwhile, Encarnacion incurred a mild internal oblique strain Thursday, though it’s not yet clear how much time Encarnacion will miss. The 36-year-old already sat out almost all of August because of a fractured right wrist.
- Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen was a speculative target for the Red Sox after they fired president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski on Sunday. But Hazen, who worked under Dombrowski in Boston before going to Arizona in 2016, is officially out of the picture after signing an extension Friday. Even before Hazen agreed to that deal, the Red Sox didn’t reach out to the Diamondbacks to request an interview, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports. Extension or not, Hazen was already under contract with the D-backs, so they could have shot down the Red Sox had they approached the Snakes with interest in talking to him.
- Reliever Tim Mayza left the Blue Jays’ win over the Yankees on Friday with a left elbow injury, the team announced. It was an ugly scene: Mayza threw a pitch way behind New York shortstop Didi Gregorius, went to the ground clutching his forearm and looked to be in tears (video via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com). Mayza will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relays, but it won’t be a surprise if his wayward pitch to Gregorius goes down as his last of 2019. At this point, Mayza and the Jays are surely hoping the issue doesn’t prove severe enough to shelve him for any portion of next season.
And it continues for the Evil Empire n the rival Boston Redsox.
Bosox are the evil empire with their record-setting, bloated, gargantuan payroll.
Lol
Wow what a lotta hate Colossus, or frustrated Evil Empire fan.
Right. And George Steinbrenner was the epitome of frugality!
It’s been a rough 10 months for Red Sox fans as they last won a World Series 10 months ago
Who wants that Boston GM job, even if you win the arrogant egomaniac Henry will probably fire you if you can’t go back to back.
Yeah, signing an oft-injured SP who struggled to make it through last season to a $145M deal when there was no reason to had nothing at all to do with it
I don’t remember anyone complaining about the deal at the time it was signed…
You must have a poor memory then. Lots of filled liked the deal, but plenty were skeptical also.
We were skeptical but the Red Sox have plenty of money and didn’t want another Jon Lester flub on their hands.
Red Sox fans loved it as usual….lot of skepticism from baseball fans though.
Jawn Lesta
Maza injury looks like major surgery.
It looked really bad.
He knew something was wrong on the pitch prior. He was looking at his arm and kind of shook it a bit
Is there such a thing as an external oblique strain?
This is an interesting article for Sox fans re. how they can keep Mookie and JD and the main ingredients together.
https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/9/13/20863433/boston-red-sox-mookie-betts-trade-rumors-dave-dombrowski-firing
Thank you for the link I will read it. But before doing so my opinion is that they should trade Mookie. I see an Andrew McCutchen development and wouldn’t want to give him a massive long-term deal. He could be a smaller guy who slows down as he ages? Perhaps move benintendi to Center and put a basher in right field.
The goal would be to get a nice young arm and perhaps one or two potential strong Major League prospects.