April 7th: Manager John Schneider tells Keegan Matheson of MLB.com that Kirk had a screw placed in his thumb and is looking at a six-week recovery timeline.
April 6th: Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk will undergo surgery on his broken left thumb, manager John Schneider told reporters (including Rob Longley of The Toronto Sun). Schneider said the return timetable is dependent on whether doctors will need to insert a pin in Kirk’s thumb, which won’t be known until the operation is underway.
In any case, it’ll be more than a minimal 10-day injured list stint. The manager loosely floated a potential 3-4 week or 4-6 week recovery range depending on the procedure. It seems safe to rule Kirk out into May. The two-time All-Star was injured on Friday when he was struck by a foul tip.
A glove hand injury could obviously be problematic for a catcher. The Jays have used George Springer as a full-time designated hitter this year. Even if Kirk’s bat proves ahead of his glove in the recovery process, the Jays probably won’t activate him until he’s ready for regular work behind the plate.
Tyler Heineman and rookie Brandon Valenzuela are handling the catching duties until Kirk returns. Heineman did a nice job in the backup role a year ago, hitting .289/.361/.416 with strong receiving grades over 64 games. He entered tonight’s game with a 4-10 start to the season offensively, but he had a few ill-timed miscues in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s injury.
Heineman had a throwing error to allow the tying run to score with two outs in the tenth inning of an eventual loss to the White Sox on Friday. He had a baserunning gaffe and another throwing error that cost two runs in a 6-3 loss on Saturday. The Jays turned to Valenzuela for his MLB debut in the series finale, usual practice for a Sunday matinee. Heineman is back behind the plate tonight for the start of a World Series rematch against the Dodgers.
Bummer. Hope he’s back soon.
Perhaps back in time to face your Yankees.
I kid, I kid lol
Acoss – In your honest opinion, which team is worse right now …. Jays or Red Sox?
Red Sox have the worst record, but Jays lost 5 of 6 against the Rockies & ChiSox.
Caught the game on Easter Sunday at Fenway. Got some great cheap homeplate seats because of the rain. The highlight was the fried dough I got!
YBC – Yes!! Last time I was at Fenway I had to walk around 3/4 of the park to find the fried dough, but it was well worth the walk. I don’t get why it’s not as popular anymore.
Please tell me you’re a sauce guy and not a sugar guy. LOL
I didn’t know where the stand was. (Behind RF) I asked a girl who was gnawing away on hers. Yes, I asked for the sauce! Lol.
Fever Pitch Guy I told a co-worker that if the Bluejays play as bad today as they did last week the Dodgers are going to blow them out and that’s exactly what happened tonight the Jays lost 14-2
Jays worse.
Gone to position player pitching 2x already.
YBC – Yep I was sitting on the Monster (M4) and walked counterclockwise to get there!
I’ve made and sold fried dough for my organization’s fundraisers, it’s a lot more enjoyable to eat than to make!
If you get a chance head up to Fisherman’s Feast in August, the fried dough is great in the North End.
Dbrass – Yes and when your starting pitcher is gone after the 2nd inning, you’re going to have your worst relievers pitching the rest of the game.
At least the Jays have injuries to blame, my Sox team is perfectly healthy except for one reliever.
Fever Pitch Guy are you a Red Sox or White Sox fan both are playing okay baseball right now
Dbrass – Red. They are 2-8 right now, worst start in 80 years.
Even my Huskies are about to lose, tough night for me.
The Jay’s starters have only given up 2 or less runs in each of their outing, granted a couple of those starts were cut short due to injury and one due to sickness.
It is the bullpen usage/how they are used is the problem. True the starters are not going that deep but is that a result of poor management or they are getting tired because they only pitched 5 innings in ST when they got to pitch in games and not hid on the back field because the manager was afraid the other team might learn something. This same theory maybe what is wrong with the offense as players never really played 9 innings in ST until the last game or two if at all.
Darthyen you can’t expect starters to go far this early in the season but as the season progresses their pitch counts will go up and they won’t rely on the bullpen so much but as I mentioned to Neverbe51 last week Sandy Alcantara threw a 93 pitch complete game for the Marlins in his 2nd start of the season
I was not suggesting complete games but I guess they have, for the most part, been going 5+ to 6ish innings, so yeah maybe the bullpen/bullpen choices had me thinking it was worse.
Fever,
I had high hopes for your Red Sox, but in all honesty, the AL East will probably come down to the last week of the season between Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, and Orioles. The Wild Card teams are coming out of that division.
Backstops always taking a beating
Barger probably to the 10 day il and mad max who knows. This is becoming the season from hell awfully quick
Jays were a nice flash in the pan
@Nick Baratta
The flash was the pixie dust.
As a Dodgers fan, that was a big flash that lasted 7 games.
Blue Jays played one hell of a series. Just because they are off to a rough start, it doesn’t mean they can’t recover.
Jays are getting hammered with injuries holy
@JaysFanHopeful
And half injuries. Just watched Max talking to the press. He was scheduled to pitch 3 innings/50 pitches but left because of forearm tendonitis. He should be good to go Saturday though.
Who are you to doubt El Dandy?
Jam up guy.
Sad thing is they will blame injuries for their bad record but the reality is they are just bad right now even without the injuries.
When was the last time any team blamed all their failures on injuries?
Fans and sometimes media do that, but players generally own up to their poor play.
I was not suggesting players would but leaks from their front office that would get relayed by the Blue Jays owned (yes I mean owned not own) media.
Now the reply shows up.
Hmm my first reply got deleted…anyway
I was not suggesting the players would use that as an excuse but more to the effect the front office would and most likely leak it through their own media.
Springer
25 million dollar a year DH
Hitting 158
In 9 games.
Pretty sure that 25 mil wasn’t just for the first nine games.
He won’t live up to the requirements of a top DH
Like Schwarber
Three straight years over 100 RBI
RBI, famously the only stat that matters. Especially for a leadoff hitter…
No one should have a DH as a lead off hitter
Was Springer worth 25million last season? Absolutely
They didn’t win the WS
Under his thumb b/w Time Is on His Side
That’s a bummer for his thumber.
He hits, calls a good game. And is somewhat integral to their lineup.
I wish Kirky a speedy recovery and hope the Jays can figure things out.
6 weeks is better than Ponce’s 6 months. But none is good.
Always like Kirk, wish him the best.