As we enter the second week of the MLB regular season, here are three things to keep an eye on around the league:
1. Is Eloy Jiménez headed for the IL?
White Sox DH Eloy Jiménez left Sunday’s contest against the Tigers with what the team originally deemed “left adductor soreness” and manager Pedro Grifol later called “an adductor strain” (per Scott Merkin of MLB.com). The adductors are muscles that run from the pelvic bone to the knee along the inner thigh.
After the game, Grifol said, “We’ll see tomorrow how [Jiménez] wakes up. They’re going to do some testing on it… We’re not sure until tomorrow” (per Merkin). While we should know more about the severity of Jiménez’s injury sometime today, James Fegan of Sox Machine notes that the oft-injured DH previously suffered an adductor strain as a minor leaguer in 2018. That particular injury kept him on the shelf for two weeks. Fegan also mentions that Lenyn Sosa is being recalled from Triple-A, which seems to indicate an incoming IL stint announcement.
2. More teams waiting on injury updates:
The White Sox aren’t the only team waiting on injury updates today. Two Giants players exited yesterday’s action early, and the team said both would be reevaluated on Monday. First baseman Wilmer Flores suffered a shoulder contusion after falling into the dugout while trying to catch a foul ball. An inning later, starting pitcher Daulton Jefferies left the game himself due to right hip discomfort.
On the minor league side, Rays infielder (and star prospect) Junior Caminero suffered a quad injury at Triple-A on Sunday. It looked exceptionally painful as the young infielder limped to first base before dropping to the ground, but there is no word yet on the severity of the injury. Like Flores and Jefferies, Caminero will undergo testing today.
3. The Giants take on the Dodgers:
As the Giants wait for updates on Flores and Jefferies, they will head to Chavez Ravine to take on the Dodgers. San Francisco made a push to sign superstar Shohei Ohtani this offseason, and now the Giants will get their first look at the two-time MVP playing for their long-time rivals. San Francisco was also a finalist to land NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, although the Giants won’t see him this week in L.A.
For their part, the Dodgers get a chance to take on the new-look Giants. Although Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi didn’t land the two biggest fish of the offseason, he still transformed his team’s roster, adding Jung Hoo Lee, Jorge Soler, and Matt Chapman to the top of the lineup and Blake Snell and Jordan Hicks to the starting rotation.
Hope it’s not too serious for Eloy. Just sucks to get hurt 3 games in.
The Giants being close to signing Ohtani or Yamamoto has as much credibility as the announcement that Ohtani was on a private plane to Toronto.
Ok.
Zerbs: You’re exactly right. Ohtani was never going to sign with anyone but the Dodgers, which most people knew, just like judge was never going to leave the Yankees. I give the Giants a lot of credit for pursuing both. I’m sure Manfred will put in some kind of rule where, under bright lights in a darkened room, a bruiser with a rubber hose standing nearby, elite FA will have to declare what teams they intend to play for and not play games with other teams like Ohtani and judge did.
@avenger, this will never happen. While it’s frustrating to be a fan of the team that keeps getting played, superstars and their agents will always string a few big market teams along before signing just to get the bidding up. That’ll never change…..
Credibility is a great choice of words. Considering the 4.5 million dollar credit line of Ohtani’s fall guy, and the so so performance of Yamamoto. SFG looks to have made better choices after dodging these two bullets.
oldgfan: Theoretically, if MLB’s investigation proved that Ohtani did bet on games Manfred will cover it up. He’s not gonna do anything to lose MLB’s best draw.
No doubt.
I thought Ohtani’s contract would not age well but did not expect immediate regrets. Expensive DH at best, banned at worst.
Yamamoto has pitched 2 games, 1 of which was admittedly a disaster, and the other in which he left with 2-0 lead and got a no-decision after Joe Kelly melted down in relief.
He might end up being a bust, but passing judgment on his contract after 2 outings is more than a little premature.
Said nothing of his contract, just his so so performance to date.
He’s young enough to fill contract expectations, Ohtani not so much.
Rose and Bonds were not covered up. Ohtani is not at their level. Speaking of which, it will sure look bad if the investigation finds dirt on Ohtani, and Manfred continues to let him play during the investigation. Players that are accused of non baseball violations don’t get to play. Ohtani is accused of the one thing that not playing baseball would stop him from doing.
Banned would not be the worst, as the Dodgers could then get out of the contract.
Zerbs63 — Except that BOTH players said so in public statements. Research before statements..
Daffodils and tulips in bloom and Eloy Jimenez is hurt. Ah, it must be springtime.
Cracker
The earth’s axial tilt is bringing the northern hemisphere into a period of longer daylight and mid baseball fans are making stupid comments about elite athletes. Ah, it must be autumn.
Big series wish the Giants had Snell for this series (apparently it’s possible he pitches Wednesday but that’s a best case scenario) but no need to rush him and Webb/Glasnow and Harrison/Miller are still very exciting matchups regardless
It’s April 1. Plenty of “big series” matchups later in the year.
I like the off-season will he/won’t he get signed or traded. But having baseball back (as in, games played) is a lot fun, even if we are spending time on injuries. Of course, we could still talk about Brandon Belt.
Well, at least I won on the Eloy will get hurt in the first 5 games or under bet. He just can’t stay healthy but he is getting paid nicely not to play.
bmann: You can add the ultimate waste of money and talent, Anthony Rendon, who doesn’t like the game anyway.
avenger
How have I not muted this troll who doesn’t seem to actually like baseball yet?
Muted (troll who doesn’t seem to even like baseball)
I got a feeling Logan Webb is gonna have a lot of people questioning why the Dodgers are paying $70 million for a Designated Hitter. Just insane. Let’s hope, for the sake of the future of baseball, that the Dodgers regular season is just as much of a train wreck as we ALREADY know the playoffs will be. Has their been a worse performing Playoff team in baseball history than the Dodgers???? Would it be cheaper to just start another bout of Covid??? No non-Covid titles in what ….. 50 years???
Three pennants since 2017? I don’t know, it feels like whatever your bias is is causing you to cherry-pick. It took San Francisco 54 years to even win a world series, and then sure they won three, but that’s three in 68 years now? I guess San Francisco doesn’t get as much scrutiny because they never even make it to the playoffs.
Very Barry: The thing about the Dodgers is that everyone expects them to win their division. But that’s not enough. Unless they win the WS, their season will always be deemed a failure.
fake playoff system. Wild Cards shouldn’t even be in the playoffs if we want to use the 162/60 game argument against the Dodgers. MLB had to change the playoff structure and the Giants got hot twice at the right time out of the Wild Card spot.
They also won 107 and choked.
Lot of selective memories and re-hashed dumb arguments here from Giant fans.
It really is true when they say Giants fans hate the Dodgers more than they love their team
That Giant-Dodger hate goes back to when they shared New York, long before any of us were born.
I’m not so sure Dodger fans love the Dodger$, judging by the half empty stadium for their opening series games. And don’t tell me about the “Paid Attendance” – which has zero to do with the actual attendance. Sure the team gets the ticket money, but lose the concessions cash, and the thousands of empty seats is a reflection of the ho-hum Dodger fan base. Arrive in the 4th due to “traffic”, and leave in the 7th due to “traffic”. The true Dodger fans are the ones who fill up the bleachers. And Giant fans would never, EVER boo their pitcher’s struggles in his first appearance of the year, like they did to Joe Kelly on Saturday.
Lol, like I said and as the thread proves, Giants fans sure do know a lot about the Dodgers and love talking trash. I don’t see any Dodger fans invoking Giants fans because most don’t really care about the Giants these days.
Anyways, good luck this series and the rest of the season.
Have you been to Oracle/ATT/PacBell, whatever they’re calling it now Park these last few years? They’re begging for ticket sales as we speak in their latest ad campaign. “we made the moves. Now fill the seats.” or something to that effect.
Pot, kettle, black
Yeah, and it’s becoming almost pathological — and history doesn’t explain it.
Sadly, some people live vicariously through their favorite sports team and think it’s sane behavior to hop on a message board (presumably, early in the AM) and talk trash about something they can’t control.
keeping things in context, it’s just this one Giants “fan”, no need to stereotype them all based upon what you’ve just read on a message board.
I have context! This is the fan base that chants “Beat LA” at every game the Dodgers play in San Francisco. I have never understood cheering against another team and instead of for your own. Maybe this happens in other stadiums, but it’s hardly common. It doesn’t feel like much fun to me.
@Blueskies they measure their team’s success, if not their very existences in terms of LA. Rather than root FOR something, they root AGAINST.Sad, eh?
Yep. We live with a lot of negativity now. A little different, growing up the only fans I knew who regularly booed their own team were in Philly. Now this happens in lots of ballparks, sometimes even in Dodger Stadium. I personally don’t participate when this happens. Not fun.
Well, “beat ####” is a chant made in sports across America Blue! It’s not at all unique to SF. I was at a Padres game the other day and fans were chanting “beat SF”
Hate is perpetuated and grows from stereotyping groups of people based upon the actions of a few. So when one stereotypes the uglier opposing teams fans as being typical of all the opposing teams fans, one is spreading negativity just the same.
fair point
But I’m with ya on increase in negativity these days. Sports and society at large. It’s consistent with evolutionary biology concepts where self-destructive behavior doesn’t bode well for species longevity.
If they were chanting LA SUCKS or something else derogatory you might have a point but Beat LA is not condemning the other team. Unless you think BEAT LA is cheering for a physical “beating”. Truth is theyre yelling for their TEAM to BEAT the other TEAM so they in fact are not hating on the Dodgers like you’re saying. What should they yell WIN THE GAME! Boy ain’t that invigorating. Chicago fans mostly vehemently hate each other’s fan base. Yankees Red Sox same. Cubs Cards same. But have a few posters dog your Dodgers? Oh my goodness. Shame on them. Appear in the second inning and leave in the 7th. That’s what a lot of us see. Big deal. I wouldn’t want to deal with that traffic mess. Oops, I complained about the traffic. So sorry. LA has a 50% higher homeless rate than SF. And many more “slums”. Oops, sorry again. Apologies please. But many posters continue to believe LA is a better place to live. That’s a joke BUT I would never want to live in LA or SF. Too many entitled pompous blowhards. Btw, Giants were 1 game behind LA late July last year. 5th best record in MLB. About 90 games into the season. That’s 30 more than 60. Damn, too bad the season didn’t end there. They play 162 for a reason.
It’s called a rivalry. It goes back to NYC. It’s fun. It’s silly. Relax and enjoy it. It’s nothing personal. In the scheme of life it’s pretty meaningless, except it provides an escape from the troubles of the world.
So…BEAT LA!
That too Lon. Thx.
Just to be clear, we’re talking about a chanting crowd of tens of thousands, so no stereotype at work there. In general people are getting permission more and more to be negative and cranky from others who do the same. Lots of people show up here for no other apparent reason but to talk trash, and that’s a kind of crowd behavior too.
Claude, you have completely missed my point, and used to go on about some completely unrelated subjects. But I guess that happens a lot these days too.
” I have never understood cheering against another team instead of for your own”. Beat LA is cheering for your own. To win against another. what “happens a lot these days” is poor reading comprehension. Your original point, in quotes above, was not missed. And my post addressed all of the other posts–not just yours. “BEAT LA” shouldn’t hurt feelings. In fact, it should make Dodger fans happy that beating them is that important for Giants fans. Why doesn’t it? Why be upset that your enemy has beating you as a need? Damn, why was MY post so misunderstood?
Actually, it isn’t. Unfortunately I’m not surprised by the hostility of your response.
Beat LA is hardly a recent thing. Google “Beat LA” and you’ll see a long list of references to origin. The most cited origin is from Boston in the 1980s playoff battles between the Lakers and Celtics. The Dbacks fans used it every inning of last years playoff games. I never realized “beat ####” was viewed as negativity, or recent. I recall playing on my HS hoops team and being deafened by the rival teams fans yelling “beat ####”. It was effective, but I didn’t take it as negativity, just spirited competition typical of a sporting event.
VB
Whew
Ignorant mid-fan comment
” got a feeling Logan Webb is gonna have a lot of people questioning why the Dodgers are paying $70 million for a Designated Hitter. Just insane. ”
Right? Like the Angels paid Ohtani just a fraction of that – and that’s when Ohtani was a pitcher too! Angels must be much smarter than the Dodgers, amirite?
“Has their been a worse performing Playoff team in baseball history than the Dodgers???? ”
Yes
The Dodgers have the 3rd most playoff wins in MLB history. They also have the second most losses. Their .467 all-time playoff winning % is 21st
Just as the sun rises in the East,Eloy Jiménez gets injured every season.
But when he hits free agency you better bet that will be glossed over like nobody’s business. Rodon pulled it off 2 years in a row.
Solaris: Then hit rock bottom again last season. Here’s hoping for a repeat in ’24.
@Jack Hoffman
Probably. Once you get past the top 3 in the lineup, it’s a desert. Garbage time team.
hahahahahahaha. yeah ok.
Do people who comment here even watch games? Did anyone watch them win 3/4 from the cardinals and see who was raking on offense? (Can you name the other hitters Old Man York or do you just typically comment on the internet without knowing anything?) For that matter (jack) do people know how team names are spelled? good quality stuff here in the comments, doing great everyone.
@underdog
It was the Cardinals. They were expected to be slightly above .500 team this year and had a staff ERA around 4.50 predicted to start the season. The fact that they struggled in 3 of the 4 games against them is quite telling.
Old York does typically comment without thinking.
I like the Diamondbacks better than the Dodgers but that teams offense is loaded. I don’t trust Heyward at all and perhaps an argument could be made against Outman but the rest of that line up is stacked.
Moving goalposts, always a good comment tactic, I salute it. They win 3 of 4 and score 24 runs, including a 7-1 laugher, but games don’t count, it was the cardinals, and games were too close, etc. Good stuff, have me on my toes here, keep it coming. (Fangraphs actually predicted St Louis winning the NLC, even if yes admittedly a sort of middling division as it stands right now.)
On that topic, here’s a rational fair minded comment: The NL West may now be the most competitive division in baseball this year next to the AL East. Four teams that should all compete for playoffs and give each other tough series, and probably win the season series against other divisions. As someone who does pay attention to other teams, it should be fun!
A division has to produce only one good team to become competitive in the playoffs. If the Dodgers and Braves end up squaring off in an NLCS this year (a high probability event), it’s going to be a very close contest, and the outcome won’t depend on who they competed against to win their division.
But I agree generally with the sentiment. The NLW will probably be the first or second most competitive in MLB this year.
they’d be 2-4 if not for Teoscar
I’m guessing at least three fights in the stands for LA/San Fran.
I was in attendance for a fight in the stands in SF few years back. Truly, the fans were chanting “Beat La! Beat La !”
That’s for real….
They always chant beat LA. They don’t always fight in the stands.
GSW: For real excitement, go to an NHL game. There are so many fights – not on the ice – in the stands it’s an attraction in itself. And these guys REALLY fight, not like a bb fight. It doesn’t help that there’s a liquor bar every ten feet.
Not surprised, with all the SoCal transplants that moved to SF they really get on the local’s nerves, and for more than just their obnoxious antics at oracle park.
@youngliam
Why are you allowing them into your city/area?
I’m glad you can see the future. Can you tell me the Power Ball number?
Giants pitching staff on paper is hands down better than LA
?!?!?
GWS: That’s what struck me about the Ohtani signing. In 2025, he’s going to start every 5-6 days. Then there’s Glasnow, then everyone else seems to be hurt. Same with Yamamoto. He’ll effect 30-33 games. That’s it. Ohtani will obviously help offensively, but what irks me is me is that, if he is taken out of the game as a pitcher, why is he allowed to stay in the game as a DH? I was under the impression that once you’re out, you’re out.
The DH is specifically mandated to hit for the pitcher. Whoever the pitcher is doesn’t matter.
Is this the first time you’ve baseballed?
Its the “Ohtani Rule”. Manfred made a rule just for him.
Some guys, while they seem to have all the physical attributes for sports, are not cut out to play sports. Eloy seems like one of those people. His body just breaks down every year.
Yammoto was not prospect of eligible to be ranked as a prospect do research first
@cr4 How about doing research on how to spell Yamamoto??? Sheesh!
Pirates with the best record in baseball at the start of April; fools didn’t see that coming, did ya?
@Terrier1980
Yankees are tied with them for the best record. Maybe another 1960 World Series?
Hayes with a walk off dinger in game seven on his way to a HoF career as a supreme defender?
I’ll take that… lol.
Terrier: I was listening to ESPN’s season preview on radio Sunday. One of the guys predicted the Pirates to win the NLC.
No need to play the rest of the schedule let’s just hand the trophy to Pittsburgh huh?
The Pirates always seem to have a good record in April. It’s the whole May, June, July, August and September thing they forget still counts.
Giants don’t play the Dodgers after July 25th. What a shame.
Blame baseball for forcing a balanced schedule that downplays the traditional rivalries cos every team has to play every other team.
Yeah I’m not a huge fan of the current format. The Cubs do not play within their division until May which is ridiculous.
Also, while I’m complaining, absolutely no opening day games should be blacked out. That’s ridiculous.
Hmm. As a very long-time Giants fan, sober as well, I’ll expect the Dodgers to score runs and at least split with S.F., as San Diego did. It’s so early in the season, it might as well still be the end of ST. That is, anything can happen, including more injuries. But c’mon, the bottom of the Dodger lineup only has to get lucky for runs to come across. I do agree that, at least potentially, G’s arms are superior to what L.A. has cobbled together. So the season will be interesting…
@Crow. I’m predicting they don’t split since it’s a 3-game series.
Hah! Thanks for straightening that (and me) out there.
So far, in this early season, based on the Pythagorean Winning Percentage, these are the teams that are over and under performing:
Overperforming:
New York Yankees – Should be 3-1 record.
Pittsburgh Pirates – Should be 3-1 record
Detroit Tigers – Should be 2-1 record
Minnesota Twins – Should be 1-2 record
Seattle Mariners – Should be 1-3 record
Underperforming:
Boston Red Sox – Should be 3-1 record
Kansas City Royals – Should be 2-1 record
Chicago White Sox – Should be 1-2 record
New York Mets – Should be 1-2 record
Houston Astros – Should be 1-3 record.
Miami Marlins – Should be 1-3 record.
Bubble wrap Eloy, I’m surprised it took this long
Lol……WSox will definitely decline his pricey club options after this season just like they did with TA.
The designated hitter literally hits for the pitcher. That responsibility doesn’t change if he himself IS the pitcher.
Dodgers and Giants fans brawling it up today lol