Mariners southpaw Charlie Furbush is undergoing a blood injection therapy to his shoulder in hopes of speeding his recovery, MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports, but he might not return to action for “several months.” Furbush suggested that he could resume throwing in about three weeks’ time, but given his rotator cuff issues last year and continued difficulties, it certainly seems likely that the club will bring him along cautiously.
Here’s more from the American League:
- We checked in earlier today on Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion, as he’s not expected to engage in further contract talks before the season starts. Jon Heyman of MLB Network joins Ben Nicholson-Smith in reporting that there’s nothing scheduled with Encarnacion (Twitter link).
- Heyman also adds on Twitter that Jose Bautista could be willing to consider a four-year arrangement to stay in Toronto, despite his ask of five or even six years in an extension. Of course, that would be at a superstar rate of pay — Heyman suggests $30MM annually. The club, meanwhile, is believed to be interested in a three-year pact that might looking something like the Yoenis Cespedes deal.
- The Athletics could continue to hold contract talks with outfielder Josh Reddick into the regular season, John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group reports. (Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle noted yesterday evening that talks between the two sides were “percolating a little bit.”)While previous indications were that there’d be a deadline at the end of the spring, it appears there’s a willingness to keep talking if negotiations are showing sufficient promise of completion. If a new deal can’t be struck, Reddick will reach free agency after the season. He currently sits at sixth among pending free agents on the pre-season power rankings by MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes.
- Athletics righty R.J. Alvarez underwent a procedure to remove bone chips from his pitching elbow, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Alvarez was roughed up in his twenty MLB innings last year and has yet to harness his command, but has generated some whiffs with his mid-90s fastball and slider combo.
- The Indians have shifted Trevor Bauer into the bullpen to open the season, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal was among those to report. That leaves Cody Anderson and the just-extended Josh Tomlin as the four and five starters as things get underway. As Lewis notes, both Bauer and Anderson have displayed significant increases in their fastball velocity this year. Both president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and manager Terry Francona emphasized that Bauer remains in the rotation picture and will play a significant role — indeed, he had strong results this spring — but it’s certainly an interesting decision on a highly promising player who has yet to fully settle in at the major league level. It bears noting that the 25-year-old is all but certain to qualify as a Super Two after the season, so any loss of innings could have a significant impact on his future earnings.
- Injured catcher Chris Gimenez will suit up for the Rangers on Wednesday in a “last-ditch effort” to make the team, Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram tweets. Gimenez currently appears to be on the outside looking in after the Rangers acquired Bryan Holaday from the Tigers. The catcher will now have to make a big impression on team brass while dealing with an infected left leg.
- At one point, the Tigers would have asked for catcher Brett Nicholas and more for Holaday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. However, the Rangers were able to acquire Holaday while hanging on to Nicholas. Instead, they parted only with right-hander Myles Jaye and catcher Bobby Wilson. Meanwhile, Detroit plans on slotting the newly-acquired Jaye in their Double-A rotation, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets. In the long term, he says, the club believes that Jaye can be a major league reliever.
