Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson doubled in his first at-bat of 2021 on Thursday, but the club then pulled him out of the game as a result of right hamstring tightness. The Twins will re-evaluate Donaldson on Friday, manager Rocco Baldelli told Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com and other reporters. While this fortunately doesn’t appear to be a calf problem for Donaldson, who has dealt with those in previous seasons, it’s nonetheless disheartening for Minnesota to see him deal with yet another health problem at the outset of the campaign. The former AL MVP only played in 165 regular-season games from 2017-18 as a Blue Jay and Indian, and after a healthy 2019 with the Braves, the Twins signed him to a four-year, $92MM contract. Donaldson appeared in just 28 of a possible 60 games in the first year of the deal, though.
- The Red Sox and right-handed reliever Matt Barnes discussed a contract extension during the spring, but there’s little optimism about a deal coming together, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes. That leaves the 30-year-old on track to reach free agency next winter, and in the meantime, he’ll earn $4.5MM this season. The hard-throwing Barnes, a career-long member of the Red Sox, has pitched to a 4.08 ERA with a 29.9 percent strikeout rate in 337 1/3 innings since debuting in 2014. He amassed 60-plus innings in each season from 2016-19.
- Free-agent right-hander Brad Peacock is healthy after undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery last October and will hold a showcase for interested teams Friday in Florida, MLBTR has learned. The 33-year-old Peacock’s shoulder troubles limited him to a mere three appearances in 2020, his last season as an Astro, but he was an effective swingman for the club during the few preceding campaigns. Between 2016-19, Peacock recorded a 3.48 ERA and a 28.7 percent strikeout rate across 128 appearances (42 starts) and 320 1/3 innings.
- Catcher Curt Casali earned a $500K bonus when he landed a spot on the Giants’ season-opening roster, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Casali, whom the Giants signed to a $1.5MM contract in free agency, will back up Buster Posey. He earned that deal after a three-year stretch with the Reds in which he hit a respectable .260/.345/.440 with 18 home runs in 485 plate appearances.
I know this is off topic, but is there/will there be a final leaderboard for the Free Agent Prediction contest?
mlbtraderumors.com/mlb-free-agent-prediction-conte…
Donaldson Hamstring.. put him on the DL.. don’t play short… and check his knee.. if he has a soft tissue injury in the Knee.. it can result is secondary injuries .. like in the calf and hamstrings.. because a hitch in the giddy-up will cause the muscles that move the joint to misfire..
In all seriousness, does it really matter? He’ll get hurt as soon as he comes back anyhow. Might as well play him until his legs fall off …
This is getting old with him. He will probably break a finger nail next moving luggage that will land him on the 60 day DL. He’s a wimp
But of course he was able to stay nice and healthy during his contract year. We’ve seen this so many times with injury-prone guys. Watch Carlos Correa go out there and have a great 155-game season this year. It wouldn’t surprise me.
The Minnesota Twins thank you for your medical consultation while their staff is unavailable. Your check is in the mail. >=}
isn’t the term out to lunch.. That medical staff Played Sano on a broken leg claiming it was a bone bruise… and worse.. Pitched Perkins with a torn Labrum.. the list of them being ” out to lunch” is endless…
Happy they couldn’t come to an agreement with Barnes. No lead is safe with him.
Barnes’ agent: $25m fir the next three years.
Bloom:. No, to keep him in a Red Sox uniform for three more years will require a higher payment than that to Sox fans.
Oh my goodness yes. Let this guy out of town. In fact I’ll drive him to the airport. Here’s hoping his contract year produces adequate results.
A good GM deals him to the Yankees!! That way the next time he bounces a pitch to Sanchez a Red Sox runner scores!!
Yes !!
Barnes is overrated and replaceable.
How is Shane green still a FA?
How is Rick Porcello still a FA?
How am I still a FA?
I feel ya, rogue. Been waiting for months to get that phone call from a major league team. I mean there’s 30 of them. You’d think at least ONE of them would have been interested.
Brad Peacock might be a Rangers really soon. Today exploited just how little good depth this team really has.
its okay, that happens when your facing the 2021 AL Central champs-to-be.
I saw in the headline “Peacock” and thought for a second MLB Network/MLB At-Bat/mlb.tv was being brought into the premium deal of that streaming service. LOL
Bloom mistakes are really piling up now. Bringing back E-Rod too soon from his heart issue was a very bad move. Six full months of rest beginning in August was the doctors order. Started throwing in December instead. Nice job Bloom. E-Rod was going to be lucky to get 3 months of pitching if he rested properly and you paid the guy a full year’s salary instead of letting him get his rest and paying next to nothing to recover and earn a contract in 2022. BAD MOVE BLOOM.
Did anyone notice that Bloom’s staff first said he had dead arm now he’s on the IL with elbow inflammation? So which is it? Bloom needs to get his story straight. It’s embarrassing that he doesn’t even know what’s wrong with his Opening Day pitcher.
As much as everyone hated to see Houck get sent down so they can get another year of control, now Einstein oops I mean Bloom is bringing him back to replace E-Rod and lose the extra year!!! Brilliant. Couldn’t one of the twenty five utility players pitch instead and keep the extra year of control on Houck? What’s three weeks of not being promoted when you are on a 65 Win team? This contradicts all that everyone has talked about when it comes to Bloom. He’s wrecking the farm system not improving it!! Throwing away the extra year so they can win 68 or even 70 games instead of 65, how does that make ANY sense?
Fire Bloom now and save the embarrassment!!!
Since people like positive comments and I have many about the players here is my take on Spring Training. Duran is better than I thought and I was high on him, Dalbec looks very good, Chavis has improved, Houck deserves to be up but they should wait so they can control is salary an extra year, after all this season is a high draft pick year so it’s irrelevant in the big picture, Ottavino should make for a better closer than Barnes since they never got what they needed, a real closer..
E-Rod, I hope you do the smart thing and take time off to fully recover.
Matt Barnes and I are from the same town, Bethel, Connecticut. I hope he stays. Three of my siblings went to Bethel High School. What’s not to root for.
I’m also from CT. But way on the other side.
I was in kindergarten when we moved. I met my brother there when he had his 50th HS reunion. It’s still pretty rural but there are more houses now.
I went to the same high school as AJ Pollock, he graduated my first year there.
KD right on. Bloom is over his head
Hate to say it, but saw that coming with Donaldson. He isn’t aging well for the game.
I like Falvey/Levine but what an asinine signing. Small and mid-market teams signing injury-prone, well past prime players to high dollar, long term FA contracts is just dumb. And that team needs relief help too.
Twins might want to DH Donaldson when he returns. Wait they can’t.
Good thing for the Yankees Astros and white sox twins signed Donaldson instead of taking those funds and krilloff and turning that into arenado. Instead of being title contenders – they have an old busted man and a slew of busted prospects. Way to go
Baldelli had a rare energy sapping mitochondrial disorder ruin his career and has to look on as Donaldson can’t be bothered to improve his pliability and get his electrolytes balanced.
If he goes out for career and rest of his contract is paid by an insurance policy- that’s best case scenario for twins
Rocco’s story is nothing short of amazing. No wonder he’s a good manager. Definitely root for that guy.
I’m just looking forward to the Twins facing the White Sox this year. It’s too bad Eloy can’t be healthy for those games. If Donaldson is healthy, it will be even more of a fierce battle.
Injured a couple innings into the new season. That’s the Josh Donaldson we all love and know.?
I lot of Baby Bloomers here. He’s no good. Waaah.
Why don’t you get your diapers changed and be a little more patient before you poop your pants over the guy.
Maybe AA was on to something when bringing in trainer George Poulis and staff from TOR to ATL before getting Donaldson for 2019.
I was one of the people that was upset when AA didn’t bring back Donaldson. I’ll be the first to eat crow as it looks like the braves might have dodged a bullet. I have come to love Marcell Ozuna too, it always looks like he’s having fun.
I would only extend Barnes on a team friendly deal. His best days may be behind him.
I wouldn’t extend Barnes unless it’s very team friendly. Beyond that, it is far too soon to go into crisis mode over Bloom considering they haven’t played a game yet. This may not be the prettiest Roster the Red Sox have ever had but its not the worst either. Lets see how this season plays out before throwing Bloom to the Wolves
@rsox
I like your analysis, the thing I liked about there off-season is that they added interchangeable parts like Marwin, and Kike. I appreciate players that can move around the diamond.
Mrtwotone – I agree if you aren’t going to spend any money to replace the huge divot you made in your roster in 2020 then interchangeable players is economical. Should a big market team think economical or should they try to replace their divot? (golfing season influenced the analogy!)
I’d like to see Josh Donaldson face Joe Crede in a boxing match.
There’d be good money that one (or both) injures himself while putting on the gloves.
LOL! That would be the world’s most boo’d boxing match. Don’t even bother ringing the bell. The fighters are already heading back the lockers, one fighter with a sprained wrist and the other knocked themselves out while trying to put one of the gloves on and accidentally punched himself in the face.
I almost regretted drafting him in my fantasy league. The fact that it literally happened on his very first AB is even more disheartening.
Dink Donaldson hurt again. I guess he’ll blame the Jays for this one as well?
The Casali bonus of 500K is strange. He was signed to be Buster’s backup since they wanted Bart in the minors. It was always assumed he would make the roster. Seems like the bonus was based on him not getting hurt.
Peacock is proud to announce he’s healthy.
Houck looked great today. If the Red Sox had better left side infield defense he might have not given up a run. Just like every inning since Devers showed up in Boston, Red Sox pitchers need to try and keep the ball away from the error machine at 3B. Houck needs to learn that early in his career. Nothing low and inside to right handed batters or a base runner will happen. It’s 50/50 whether the score keeper will call it an error but you can be certain you will see bad footwork, a slow lethargic movement to the ball with a complete lack of balance, an inability to bend and put the glove in front of the ball and a throw that is just as likely to end in the stands or in right field depending on the base he is throwing to than his team mate;s glove.
Such is the life of a Red Sox pitcher! And why you ask? Because they don’t want to upset the primadona. They brought back a cheating manager to coddle the immature ball player and they don’t want him to throw a temper tantrum because he doesn’t get to play 3B anymore despite leading the league in errors ALL FOUR YEARS he has been in the majors. FYI, he was terrible 3 years in the minors too!!.
It’s completely unfair to the pitching staff. Heck, with Sale out and E-Rod out the last thing they need is to not get support because the butcher is at 3B. Let JD play outfield. The utility guys aren’t that good so the step down to JD is much smaller than ANY step-up by replacing Devers. Let him DH since that’s what his skill set dictates for his future. Help save the Red Sox pitching staff and give the team a fighting chance to win against teams like Baltimore.
The Red Sox are awful and Bloom should be real proud. Loosing the first three games of the season to the Orioles! Great team you put together Bloom!!! I am so glad I canceled my MLB package before the season started in addition to the crap MLB is doing with the Allstar Game. This is going to be the last year of Bloom too. He traded the whole outfield for garbage.
AL34 – Great commentary, especially about the crap related to the All-Star Game. Idiots running baseball.
The Red Sox play 27 games in April. I projected them to be 9-18 with a first series against Bal ending at 1-2 so they are already 1 game behind my 9-18 pace and 3 games behind the second worst team in the AL!! We’ll see how they finish the month but the 65 win season seems like a pipe dream now. First pick in the 2022 draft seems far more likely.
What’s sad is that JD, one of the few remnants of the DD administration, is the only guy hitting. Pampered Devers who got his cheating manager to coddle him isn’t hitting AND as always he has already cost Houck a win in the first series of the season.
Boston has 3 home games against TB and being generous I predicted 1 win but based on what I saw in the last 3 games it doesn’t seem likely. Houck won’t pitch again and Eovaldi will face Glasnow so 0 wins seems very likely. Zero and six sounds like grounds for firing the manager and GM, doesn’t it? Oh yeah, we can’t fire the guy because he needs three full years to be evaluated no matter how bad things look!! After all, those utility players are bound to blossom soon and the minor league adds should be promoted any minute. Bloom does know that winning happens with talent not hope, right?
Relax people. While no one likes three losses to any team (especially the O’s), would you feel much different if this club went 3-0? What I want out of 21/is to learn whether Devers will have a role after 21. To me he’s not a third baseman and I don’t understand why they didn’t try him at first. My gut says they already know he can’t play first. We all thought he’d at least be the DH after JDM but his breakout year was in 19, the year of the juiced ball. I just want him to stay healthy and let’s see what his batting stats look like at the end of the season. The worst move us to tie him up long term if his bat is not there as a true big of the order hitter. I’m not saying he can’t do it. I just want to see him do it this season.
loole – Excellent commentary. I agree. Devers’ bat has been assumed by many but in four years his hotness has been defined by the juice in the ball.
The team’s construction can’t be changed thanks to the mistakes of the last couple of years so fans will simply have to endure and smile when guys like Dalbec, Houck and Duran become the next great players to graduate from the consistently great farm system that gets abused by ignorant fans, reporters and supposedly expert baseball minds. (sarcasm in case you didn’t realize it).
Maybe it’s time to move JD while he’s hot and trade him for a legitimate 3B like Bryant except not Bryant because it needs to be an AL team. Maybe Cleveland would be willing to deal Ramirez to Boston for Devers, Downs and Wong, they are considered by many to all be superstars of the future. (haha) That seems fair – one superstar for 3 superstars of the future!! I doubt the Cleveland GM is as dumb as Bloom and would go for it. Maybe we throw in JD and Verdugo and ask for Plesac too. I’d trade Devers, JD and the Mookie threesome for Ramirez and Plesac. It would give the team a better future.
Heck with Ramirez at 3B, Bogey at SS, Kiki at 2B and Dalbec at 1B we might actually field the ball and turn an occasional double play! With Duran in CF, Gonzalez/Cordero in LF and Renfroe in RF the Red Sox are stronger defensively than with Verdugo in CF. The pitching staff gains someone who slots in behind Sale and in front of Eovaldi and E-Rod. The biggest gain is the fact that a Mookie-like talent is brought to Boston to help replace all that is missing with Mookie in LA.
Somebody in the front office or ownership needs to acknowledge their screw up since the world is screaming for transparency in sports and politics so why not admit the enormous mistake and move forward with a deal that gets fans to stop thinking about the mistake and start talking about the new Red Sox, not the Red Sox in the distant future Bloom is promoting.
There won’t be accountability from an executive. They want to keep their job as long as possible without the media coming down on the executive for admitting mistakes or the ballclub. That will force a dismissal.
Many rule changes from the current Commissioner’s office should have been the red flag. They continue to cater to people who will never care about baseball the way you, me and others on this site will care. It is a problem nobody has acknowledged or know how to address our frustrations.