A few health updates from around the game…
- Center fielder George Springer’s Blue Jays debut is on hold yet again. As of Sunday, manager Charlie Montoyo was optimistic Springer would debut tonight, but that wasn’t the case. Springer is “not ready yet,” Montoyo said (Twitter links via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet), though he did take batting practice and run the bases on Tuesday. Montoyo added that “[Springer] feels great except the running.” The former Astro has been trying to work back since suffering a right quad strain three weeks ago. In better news for the Blue Jays, ace Hyun Jin Ryu is recovering well from the right glute strain he incurred Sunday and shouldn’t miss a start, Nicholson-Smith relays.
- The Braves are “likely” to activate left-hander Max Fried from the 10-day injured list next Tuesday or Wednesday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets. If true, it’ll go down as roughly a three-week stay on the IL for Fried, who suffered a right hamstring strain during his most recent start on April 13. Once he returns, the 2020 NL Cy Young contender will try to rebound from a ghastly three-start, 11-inning stretch in which hitters victimized him for 15 runs (14 earned) on 23 hits and five walks.
- Tuesday brought some positive and negative health-related developments for the Astros’ pitching staff. The good news: Southpaw Framber Valdez is making tremendous progress from a left ring finger injury and could rejoin their rotation sometime in June, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic relays. Valdez turned in a stellar performance in 2020, but he hasn’t gotten a chance to follow up on it this year. As for the bad news, righty reliever Pedro Baez has halted his throwing program on account of lingering shoulder soreness. The Astros transferred Baez from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day IL on Monday, meaning he won’t make his first appearance with the club until June 9 at the earliest. Houston signed the former Dodger to a two-year, $12.5MM guarantee over the winter.
- Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland said Tuesday that he will “absolutely” pitch in the majors this season, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (Twitter links). Freeland, a little over a month removed from suffering a strained pitching shoulder, had an “outstanding” bullpen session on Tuesday and could throw a sim game next week, according to manager Bud Black. However, there’s still no clear timetable for a potential 2021 debut for Freeland, who finished third on the Rockies in innings (70 2/3) and recorded a 4.33 ERA/4.95 SIERA with a 51.5 percent groundball rate last season.
George….. it’s time
Need him back for good, no sense in rushing him if he’s going to end back on the IL again soon.
Hopefully Springer, Teo, Pearson and Merryweather will all be back soon and we can see what this team can do. Should be fun
I understand wanting to be careful with Springer, but don’t you also kinda have to maximize his value in the first couple years of the deal? He’s gonna be more or less useless in the last 2-3 years of the deal, might as well push him a bit when he can still contribute. Imagine a Springer-Bo-Vladdy top 3. Lethal.
You understand nothing
East there Dusty. If rushing him means another IL stint then there is a bigger problem that what’s being reported. That, or Springer is just soft. I’ll take the former.
I know everyone expects serious decline for most players in their mid-30’s, but George has always been much more youthful than his age. I could see him living up to his deal, at least relative to his peers.
Yah either that or quad injuries have a history of lingering regardless of the player so better to get it flushed out now than deal with a nagging injury.
But sure let’s all trust a guy on the internet that has no inside knowledge and has been unable to communicate any basic knowledge on baseball or decency in his/her comments.
Show him the same decency, Dusty.
I’ve seen bad questions and comments from Jays fans. Vladdy’s question wasn’t as bad as you make it out to be. Nobody is “trusting” him or anyone else for that matter.
If this injury does linger the way you say then let’s sit Springer out until the All-Star break juuuuuust to be sure. We can take this to the next extreme here because we do not know just how severe this injury really is.
Another strong comment that says nothing .
There is no way to tell what kind of condition he is in, but 31.211 is still kind of old. Things just slow down, injuries occur more often, and recovery time is longer. I work out more now than when I was a kid, but I have no springs left. And I doubt the springs are returning anytime soon.
People should trust you as little as CheerVlad’s comment there, Dusty. Moreover you continue to bring weak comments with soft coddling of top athletes. You know little of the injury and even less on the situation. My apologies for being nice and keeping the peace since you are the problem on this thread with zero clue what decency means.
The report is Springer is feeling sore after running and describes himself as “80%”. I’d rather let Rowdy hit than plug in a rusty 80% Springer at DH because he can’t run. Just as I’d rather wait for Teo to be back to his full self than rush him up now just because he’s healthy. MLB is hard enough when you’re 100%.
Always a jerk comment right dusty?
Jerk comment dusty
Yet another Jerk comment dusty
Springer is DHing tonight and leading off.
Fried has got to stay on the field. Dude is way to injury prone.
Why not bring Springer back in a DH role until he’s fully recovered? Isn’t it most important to build up his timing and get him some actual at-bats?
“George feels great except the running”. DH’s still run the bases, and George is the kind of guy who simply can’t hold back when it comes to going all out anywhere on the field.
He’ll just have to hit all home runs then. Problem solved.
He doesn’t have to run the bases ?
Not if they send him to the Pioneer League! They have the designated runner.
MLB seems to be borrowing ideas from softball. It is all very strange.
He’s getting at bats in alt site games. Since they’re not official games, he can get as many at bats as he needs in them. And he can get them without hurting the Blue Jays, who don’t need another automatic strikeout in the lineup right now.