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The Opener: Tokyo Series, Strider, Lewis

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With regular season baseball just over the horizon, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Tokyo Series Game 1:

While it doesn’t actually occur until early tomorrow morning, by this time tomorrow the 2025 campaign will officially be underway! The Tokyo Series, a two-game set between the Dodgers and Cubs hosted at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, will kick off at 5:10am CT (3:10am PT) tomorrow morning. Early risers who want to catch the first regular season game of the year will be able to tune in on FOX tomorrow morning, while locals to Chicago and Los Angeles respectively can find the game on Marquee Sports Network and Sportsnet L.A. as per usual for in-market Cubs and Dodgers broadcasts.

Both the Cubs and Dodgers will send Japanese-born players to the mound in their home country to start Game 1, with Chicago southpaw Shota Imanaga (2.91 ERA in 2024) taking on prized Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.00 ERA in 2024). Both clubs will be down a key piece of their middle infield for the series as well, with the Dodgers sitting star shortstop Mookie Betts due to illness while Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has continued rehabbing from offseason flexor tendon surgery at the club’s spring facility in Arizona while the rest of the club is overseas for this week’s series. Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas are the top candidates to fill in for Betts at short with the Dodgers, while Jon Berti and Gage Workman could both be called upon to take Hoerner’s place in the Cubs lineup.

2. Strider returns to action:

Star right-hander Spencer Strider missed almost the entire 2024 regular season while rehabbing surgery an internal brace surgery on his UCL. While the right-hander will not be ready in time to make Atlanta’s Opening Day roster, he’s far enough along in his rehab to make his Grapefruit League debut in a start against the Red Sox this afternoon. Scheduled to take on left-hander Shane Drohan in a 1:05pm local time game at Atlanta’s spring facility in North Port, if Strider’s start today goes well and he continues on his current track, there now appears to be a good chance he’ll return to action ahead of schedule, perhaps missing only the regular season’s first couple of weeks.

3. Lewis undergoing testing:

Perhaps the most notable news from the weekend was the latest injury suffered by Twins third baseman Royce Lewis. The first overall pick of the 2017 draft has been plagued by frequent and lengthy absences due to injuries over the past half decade, and despite making his big league debut early in the 2022 season he has just 152 career MLB games under his belt. Lewis appeared set to finally have the first mostly normal offseason and Spring Training of his big league career this year, but unfortunately those hopes were dashed yesterday when he was pulled from the club’s game against the Red Sox due to a hamstring issue.

Lewis is set to undergo testing to determine the severity of the issue (and his timetable for return to action) today, but even a mild hamstring strain for a player with his history of lower half injuries will likely be approached with caution. While Lewis is out of commission, Jose Miranda and Willi Castro appear to be the most likely candidates to step in at third base.

Tigers Option Jace Jung

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In their latest round of Spring Training roster moves ahead of Opening Day, the Tigers announced this morning that they’ve optioned infielder Jace Jung and left-hander Sean Guenther. Neither player will break camp with the club.

Jung, 24, was the club’s first-round pick in the 2022 draft and is a former top-100 prospect. The youngster made his big league debut last year and hit a decent .241/.362/.304 (102 wRC+) in 94 trips to the plate for the Tigers, though that league average production is inflated by good fortune. While Jung walked at an excellent 16% clip during his time in the majors last year, the combination of a massive 30.9% strikeout rate and minimal power (just five extra-base hits, all of which were doubles) left him to rely on an unsustainable .380 BABIP to get his slash line to league average overall.

Even so, Jung entered camp as the likely favorite for an Opening Day job at third base for the Tigers. While the club made a serious push to add Alex Bregman to the mix in free agency this winter, they ultimately came up short and entered camp with only their internal options available to them. That put Jung in strong position to potentially earn the nod, but Jung has struggled badly in Spring Training this year as he’s gone just 4-for-33 at the plate with four walks against ten strikeouts. Spring Training numbers only count for so much, of course, but between his questionable cup of coffee last year and the Tigers’ over reliance on left-handed bats in the lineup the club clearly felt most comfortable sending Jung to Triple-A Toledo to begin the season.

With Jung now out of the mix for the Opening Day roster, third base seems likely to be manned by a platoon of the lefty-swinging utility man Zach McKinstry and righty bat Andy Ibanez. Ibanez was already expected to platoon with Jung entering camp, though McKinstry seemed ticketed for a bench role to start the spring. McKinstry hit just .215/.277/.337 (75 wRC+) in 325 trips to the plate for the Tigers last year but posted a slightly more robust .225/.284/.356 (82 wRC+) line against right-handed pitching last year. Ibanez, meanwhile, crushes left-handed pitching to the tune of a .292/.357/.445 slash line. McKinstry isn’t the only option to share time at third base with Ibanez, though none of Ryan Kreidler, Javier Baez, or non-roster invitee Jahmai Jones are necessarily surefire improvements over the utility man’s expected offensive production.

With Jung off the roster, that opens up a spot in the position player mix for one of the other players vying for a spot in camp. Cutting Jones makes shortstop Trey Sweeney very likely to break camp with the club, and the soon-to-be 25-year-old shortstop figures to platoon with Baez at short to open the year. At least one roster spot appears likely to go to either Spencer Torkelson or Justyn-Henry Malloy to offer the Tigers an additional right-handed bat in the outfield and DH mix while Matt Vierling is on the injured list, and the club’s final available spot on the bench figures to come down to one of Kreidler, Jones, and whichever of Torkelson and Malloy isn’t already on the roster.

As for Guenther, the cut isn’t exactly a surprise. The southpaw excelled in limited work last year with the Tigers, posting a 0.86 ERA and 2.60 FIP in 21 innings, but Tyler Holton and Brant Hurter both entered camp with a leg up on Guenther for an Opening Day roster job and the club signed veteran southpaw Andrew Chafin as a non-roster invitee during camp, which likely extinguished any hope of Guenther making the roster as a third southpaw in the bullpen.

Athletics’ Michel Otanez To Start Season On Injured List

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An MRI revealed that right-hander Michel Otanez has an impingement in his throwing shoulder, Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos and other reporters.  Otanez will start the season on the injured list and the A’s didn’t release a projected a timeline, though Gallegos notes that the standard timeline for a normal impingement is two-to-three weeks of recovery.

Otanez made his Major League debut last season, and posted a 3.44 ERA over 34 relief innings.  A 13.2% walk rate stood out as a red flag, even if that number is actually an improvement over the even more ungainly walk rates Otanez posted over his seven minor league seasons.  However, Otanez has also racked up a lot of strikeouts at every level, including an eye-opening 36.4% strikeout rate in the big leagues.  Otanez was one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in the majors last season, averaging 97.8mph on his fastball.

The Athletics intend to use Otanez as one of Mason Miller’s setup men this season, but this shoulder injury will now delay that plan for what is hopefully only a short while into April.  Tyler Ferguson and new acquisition Jose Leclerc now project as the top setup options, and Gallegos feels Justin Sterner might be the favorite to win the bullpen job left open by Otanez’s absence.

In other A’s injury news, southpaw Brady Basso is set to start a throwing program on Wednesday in the next step of his recovery from a shoulder strain.  Basso has been shut down since March 5, though it doesn’t appear his shoulder strain is too serious, as the Athletics think there’s a chance he can start up minor league games soon after Opening Day.  Infielder Brett Harris is facing a longer absence from an oblique strain, as it doesn’t appear he will play in any games before Spring Training is over even though he has restarted some baseball activities.

Austin Gomber Will Begin Season On Rockies’ Injured List

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Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber will be placed on the 15-day injured list prior to Opening Day, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post reports.  It might just be a fairly minimal stint, but the placement reflects the left shoulder soreness that has held Gomber back for the last two weeks.

The southpaw threw two scoreless innings in his only Cactus League appearance of the spring, though Gomber’s velocity was slightly down and his shoulder continued to feel sore in the lead-up to his next planned outing, which ended up being scratched.  Rox manager Bud Black told reporters (including Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball Media) last Monday that Gomber received an injection to deal with the discomfort.  Gomber is back on the mound, with MLB.com’s Rockies injury report noting that Gomber is planned to throw two innings in a minor league game today, and then three innings in a Cactus League game on Saturday.

While Gomber is slated to be part of Colorado’s rotation, the team has off-days on both April 1 and 7.  As Lyons noted, the Rockies were already considering just using four starters in the early going, since by using just one game as a bullpen day, a proper fifth starter won’t be needed until the third week of the season.  This would give Gomber time to recover while missing barely any time.

Gomber had a 5.08 ERA over 544 innings with the Rockies over the last four seasons, including a 4.75 ERA in a career-high 165 frames last year.  While the overall results haven’t been great, Gomber’s ability to eat innings has been valuable to a Rockies team that has had to deal with a ton of pitching injuries in recent years.  Gomber himself hasn’t been immune, as he missed time with back issues in both 2021 and 2023.

Kyle Freeland, German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, and Ryan Feltner are lined up to join Gomber in the rotation when everyone is healthy.  The Rockies finished at or near the bottom of most pitching categories in 2024, but the hope is that Marquez and Senzatela can provide some help now that they’re hopefully recovered from long-term injury absences.

Mookie Betts Will Miss Tokyo Series Due To Illness

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9:38PM: Betts indeed won’t play in the two games against the Cubs, Roberts confirmed to Bill Plunkett (multiple links) and other reporters today.  Betts has lost almost 15 pounds due to his illness, and the Dodgers are considering sending Betts back from Japan so he can fully recover and be ready for the domestic opener.

8:31AM: Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts was held out of the club’s exhibition games against NPB’s Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers, and manager Dave Roberts explained to reporters (including David Brandt of the Associated Press) that Betts was suffering from an illness. The 32-year-old was suffering from flu-like symptoms prior to the club’s trip to Japan, but Roberts noted that he’s been “really sick” since the club arrived in Tokyo and has started losing weight. As a result, Roberts expressed pessimism to reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) today that Betts would be available for the Tokyo Series against the Cubs later this week.

“I think that we’re really trying to be mindful of not just Opening Day but not putting him in harm’s way,” Roberts said, according to Plunkett. “He hasn’t taken live at-bats or played in any games and not to put him in a position where he potentially could get hurt.”

While Betts hasn’t been completely ruled out for the series, Roberts said Betts would need to come into the club’s next workout feeling strong and avoid the sort of fatigue he showed during today’s practice. Fortunately, there’s been no indication to this point that Betts is likely to miss regular season games once the club returns stateside, where the Dodgers are slated to play their home opener against the Tigers on March 27.

Losing a player of Betts’s caliber for any amount of time is a significant blow. The eight-time All-Star is among the most talented players in the sport and has slashed an excellent .284/.372/.530 (147 wRC+) since being traded to L.A. back in 2020. After playing right field nearly exclusively during his days with the Red Sox, Betts has seen increasingly frequent time on the infield dirt over his years with the Dodgers and enters the 2025 season as the club’s starting shortstop after splitting time between right field, shortstop, and second base in recent years.

The loss of Betts for the Tokyo Series is likely to cause a more significant shuffle in the club’s lineup card for those two games than the average injury would. The Dodgers’ 31-man travel roster is relatively light on full-time infielders, particularly after Hyeseong Kim was optioned to the minors last week ahead of the club’s trip to Japan. If Betts winds up missing those games, Tommy Edman figures to slide from center field back onto the infield to pair with Miguel Rojas up the middle.

That would open center field up for youngster Andy Pages, who posted a solid rookie season for the Dodgers last year but was squeezed out of the lineup by the club’s signing of Michael Conforto this winter. Utility men Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor could also factor in either at second base or in center field in some capacity during the series, with Hernandez in particular a likely candidate to see time. The Cubs are slated to start left-handers Shota Imanaga and Justin Steele during the Tokyo Series, and Hernandez has excelled against southpaws throughout his career.

Clarke Schmidt To Miss Start Due To Shoulder Soreness

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Clarke Schmidt was scheduled to start the Yankees’ Grapefruit League game on Monday but he has already been scratched from that planned outing due to some shoulder soreness, manager Aaron Boone told the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and other reporters.  Schmidt’s right shoulder is “not bouncing back as well as he wanted to” following his last outing, Boone said, so the club is “just being cautious with it.”

The issue isn’t considered serious enough to send Schmidt for any tests, and he is still slated to work tomorrow in another capacity, as the plan is for the righty to throw a bullpen session.  Should all go well in that session, Schmidt would then return to the rotation for another start.

It is the type of seemingly minor injury that usually might not merit too much attention, except for the injury woes that have already ravaged New York’s pitching staff this spring.  Staff ace Gerrit Cole and highly-touted prospect Chase Hampton will each miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, and reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil is out until June due to a severe lat strain.  JT Brubaker is also out recovering from rib fractures, leaving the Yankees down two starters and two depth arms before the season has even gotten underway.

Schmidt was a bit of a question mark even before this shoulder issue, as a bad back had limited him to just one previous start in Spring Training.  It could be that Schmidt’s current shoulder problem is just a bit of fatigue from the lack of build-up thus far in camp, yet that still represents a potential roadblock to avoiding the injured list.  Joyce notes that the Yankees were already planning to hold Schmidt off until the sixth game of the regular season, as off-days on both March 28 and 31 allow for a bit of rotation flexibility.

Will Warren and Carlos Carrasco are currently competing for the fifth starter’s job, but both pitchers would end up in the rotation by default if Schmidt indeed had to go on the injured list.  Brent Headrick would then likely become the top rotation depth arm, with Allan Winans and Brandon Leibrandt also in the mix.  It speaks to the Yankees’ initial depth that even this makeshift situation wouldn’t be that bad, but naturally it would be  far preferable to have a healthy Schmidt taking a regular turn.

Schmidt is already coming off a long injury absence in 2024, as a lat strain limited him to 85 1/3 innings.  The right-hander still impressed with a 2.85 ERA in that relatively small sample size, though he struggled to a 5.25 ERA over three starts and 12 innings in the playoffs.

Latest On Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuna Jr.

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Spencer Strider will start for the Braves in Monday’s Spring Training game with the Red Sox, in a significant step in Strider’s recovery from an internal brace procedure.  MLB.com’s Mark Bowman (multiple links) figures Strider will pitch in at least five games over the rest of spring camp and during a minor league rehab assignment before officially returning to Atlanta’s rotation during the regular season, which could signal a return date around roughly the middle of April if all goes well.

This would seemingly beat the timeline floated by MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand just a few days ago, when Feinsand suggested that Strider would “likely” start a 30-day minor league rehab assignment.  Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said have their own “general idea” about when both Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. will be back from their long-term injuries, yet the team hasn’t given any set timelines.

“The fact that they’re very active participants basically throughout the spring is a good sign.  Without having a date right now, we’re definitely on the shorter end, Strider more so than Ronald,” Anthopoulos said.

Should this rough timeline hold, it will mark just slightly over a year on the shelf for Strider, who underwent an internal brace surgery last April 12.  While Tommy John surgeries usually require 13-15 months of recovery, internal brace procedures have a slightly shorter timeline of roughly 12-13 months attached.  Because brace surgeries are still a relatively new way of addressing UCL injuries, there isn’t yet a standard timeframe for recovery, plus the obvious fact that every pitcher’s arm is a unique entity that recovers at its own pace.

Still, it’s great news for Strider and the Braves that he is on pace to return to the mound sooner rather than later.  After making his MLB debut late in the 2021 season, Strider emerged almost fully formed as a front-of-the-rotation pitcher in 2022, and delivered two years of work before he was waylaid by his UCL injury.  Strider posted a 2.67 ERA over 131 2/3 innings in 2022, then a 3.86 ERA in 186 2/3 frames in 2023.  The latter season saw the right-hander lead the NL in strikeouts (281), strikeout rate (36.8%) and wins (20), while finishing in fourth place in Cy Young Award voting.

As Anthopoulos observed, Acuna has been able to take part in baseball activities during camp, though he isn’t expected to play in any actual games before the Grapefruit League schedule is over.  Acuna should return to game action as part of a minor league rehab assignment in April, with an eye towards being activated from the injured list by the middle of May at the earliest.  Acuna will start the season on the IL, but it looks as if he’ll be placed on the 10-day rather than the 60-day, which would require him to be sidelined until the last week of May.

That would make it just under a year away for Acuna, who tore his left ACL last May 26.  Acuna also tore his left ACL in mid-July 2021 and returned to action by the end of April 2022, so it isn’t surprising that this second major knee injury necessitated a longer recovery time.  Acuna also battled some knee soreness throughout the 2022 campaign, which was reflected in a down performance (.266/.351/.413 with 15 homers over 533 plate appearances) by his high standards.

At his best, Acuna is arguably the best player in baseball, as evidenced by his incredible MVP season in 2023.  Coming back from one ACL tear to deliver such production is a positive sign that Acuna can return from this latest injury as well, though it is reasonable that Acuna will (like in 2022) take some time to fully return to form.  It is also fair to speculate whether or not Acuna can get back to that 2023 peak again, simply due to the difficulty of rebounding from ACL tears in both knees.

Angels Notes: Rengifo, Neto, Moncada

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TODAY: Washington told Jeff Fletcher and other reporters today that Moncada’s thumb has “some deep bruises” but “nothing is torn,” so “we’ve got to let it settle down before we start letting him try to hit.”  The manager isn’t yet sure if Moncada may or may not need an IL stint to begin the season.

MARCH 15: The Angels have had a number of health woes throughout the spring, with among the most recent being concern that a nagging hamstring issue could keep infielder Luis Rengifo off the club’s Opening Day roster. Fortunately for the club and Rengifo, however, things appear to be trending in the right direction with less than two weeks remaining until the Angels begin their season in Chicago against the White Sox. As noted by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, Rengifo started the club’s spring game yesterday at third base and declared to reporters (including Fletcher) that he would be ready for Opening Day. Manager Ron Washington was more reserved, but acknowledged that Rengifo does have enough time to be ready for the start of the season so long as he avoids any further setbacks.

That Rengifo figures to be ready for the start of the season is surely a huge relief for the Angels. After all, the switch hitter was the club’s top offensive performer last year aside from Mike Trout, who was limited to just 29 games due to injuries last year. Rengifo was not healthy in 2024 himself, playing in only 79 games with 304 trips to the plate, but in those limited appearances he hit a solid .300/.347/.417 with a wRC+ of 117. Rengifo is currently penciled in as the club’s starting second baseman, though he has the versatility to handle third base, shortstop, and the outfield corners as well. With second baseman and 2024 first-rounder Christian Moore seemingly already knocking on the door of the major leagues with a phenomenal spring, it’s easy to imagine that versatility being key to Angels’ plans for Rengifo in the near future.

In other positive injury news, Fletcher relays that shortstop Zach Neto has been making progress as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Neto has already been ruled out for Opening Day, but isn’t expected to miss much of the regular season as he’s already ahead of his expected schedule. The 24-year-old has yet to progress to facing live pitching, but is preparing for game action by standing in the box for the bullpen sessions of his teammates and is currently throwing from 105 feet, nearly the full length from shortstop to first base. The Halos’ top hitter by both bWAR and fWAR last year, Neto figures to slide back into his job as the club’s everyday shortstop sometime in April as things stand.

Not all of the latest news out of Angels camp is positive, however. As noted by MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, third baseman Yoan Moncada was scratched from yesterday’s lineup due to thumb soreness. He remained out of the lineup today, and while there’s been no indication of the severity of the issue to this point, it’s at least somewhat concerning given the veteran’s lengthy injury history and the issue’s proximity to Opening Day. If Moncada’s thumb issue were to prove more serious, non-roster invitee J.D. Davis may be best positioned to take advantage of the vacant job at third base although fellow non-roster invitees Tim Anderson and Carter Kieboom could also theoretically be in the mix.

Matt Strahm Resumes Throwing, Questionable For Opening Day

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Phillies left-hander Matt Strahm was shut down for close to a week due to soreness in his throwing shoulder, but restarted his throwing progression this weekend.  Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Strahm threw from 90 feet yesterday and 75 feet today, and Strahm already feels like he is close to being ready for the Phils’ Opening Day roster.

Strahm said he felt discomfort in his shoulder early in camp, but nothing seemed amiss until his velocity was down during his second spring outing.  An MRI revealed both inflammation and a bone bruise in his throwing shoulder, but no structural damage.  After some medication and two examinations from the team doctor, Strahm was given the green light to resume throwing, and his shoulder was feeling good following the two long-distance games of catch this weekend.

It isn’t yet clear whether or not Strahm will be fully ready to pitch by the time camp ends, or if the Phillies could place Strahm on the 15-day injured list just as a precaution.  Philadelphia’s early-season schedule could work against Strahm in this sense, as the Phillies have three off-days in the season’s first 12 days.  As Lauber notes, a minimal 15-day IL stint would therefore translate to only nine missed games for Strahm, when also factoring the three days of backdating available on any IL placement.

The Phils aren’t likely to take any risks with Strahm, arguably the team’s key bullpen arm.  Since coming to Philadelphia during the 2022-23 offseason, Strahm has been outstanding for the Phillies as both a fill-in starter in the first few months of the 2023 campaign and then as a shutdown reliever.  Working exclusively out of the pen last season, Strahm delivered a 1.87 ERA, 33.3% strikeout rate, and 4.6% walk rate over 62 2/3 innings.

Even a fairly brief IL stint might have some impact on Strahm’s future contractual status.  Initially signed to a two-year, $15MM contract, the Phillies were already impressed enough to sign Strahm to a new extension last March, locking him up for $7.5MM in guaranteed money this season, and a club option worth at least $4.5MM for 2026.  That option vests at a $7.5MM guarantee if Strahm pitches at least 60 innings and passes a post-season physical, so missing nine games could hamper Strahm’s chances of hitting that 60-inning threshold.

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