AL Notes: Encarnacion, Bautista, Angels Stadium, Holland

Star Blue Jays first  baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion is facing a civil suit from a woman who claims that he knowingly infected her with sexually transmitted diseases, as TMZ recently reported. The unsettling allegations can be found here, courtesy of the Toronto Star. Encarnacion’s representatives have strongly denied any wrongdoing, with agent Paul Kinzer calling the lawsuit “frivolous,” as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. At this time, there is no indication either that a criminal investigation relating to the claims is being pursued, or that Major League Baseball will undertake its own investigation into the matter. One of the game’s best hitters, the 33-year-old Encarnacion is slated to become a heavily-pursued free agent at the end of the season.

More from the American League:

• There was some good news on the injury front for the Blue Jays, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. Second baseman Devon Travis needed a cortisone shot to address a hand injury, but is expected to be ready to go today. And slugger Jose Bautista may return from his knee sprain tomorrow, which is the first date he’d be eligible to come off of the 15-day DL. That’s great news for the Jays and the veteran outfielder, who ought to have a nice stretch of time available to burnish his free agent credentials. Bautista is putting up an above-average .222/.349/.444 batting line in his 355 plate appearances on the year, but that’s well off of his usual production levels and this is his second stint on the disabled list.
• Renewed talks between the Angels and the city of Anaheim on a new lease arrangement for Angels Stadium are off to something of a rocky start, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports. While the Halos organization had objected to the construction of a 15-acre, multi-use development project that will be raised next to the ballpark’s parking lot. Despite the team’s claim that the complex would compete with the stadium’s own concessions — and, therefore, “fundamentally undermine the Angels’ negotiations to remain in Anaheim over the long term” — the Anaheim Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve it. Final approval still must be obtained from city council, and it’s still unclear just how much of an impediment this matter will prove to be, but it seems that the Angels and the city still have some differences to smooth out.
• While the Rangers lost their third straight ballgame yesterday, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News finds a ray of hope: the performance of starter Derek Holland. In his first outing since June 20, the southpaw allowed just one earned run on four hits and a walk, striking out five over six solid frames that required only 73 pitches. When Texas ended up foregoing a starting staff upgrade at the trade deadline, it left the middle and back of its rotation somewhat exposed. But Grant wonders whether Holland might be able not only to solidify things down the stretch, but also win the third spot in a hypothetical but hopeful playoff rotation.