The Red Sox won’t count on Hanley Ramirez being capable of playing first base again this year, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters including Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Shoulder troubles have persisted for the veteran, relegating him to DH duties. “The potential negatives of him going out and [playing first], at this point don’t outweigh the positives that we get from having his bat in as our DH,” Dombrowski explained. “We just have to maneuver around it.” For the time being, at least, rookie Sam Travis is up to provide a right-handed-hitting option at first along side lefty Mitch Moreland.
Here’s more on some injury situations around the American League:
- There’s some welcome news on the injury front for the Mariners, who watched lefty James Paxton through four innings and 55 pitches tonight in a rehab outing, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns reports (Twitter links). The expectation is that he’ll take the ball for Seattle on Wednesday. Fellow rehabbing starters Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma are slated for bullpen sessions in the coming days, too, leading skipper Scott Servais to say that the club is finally “starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.”
- Two Athletics pitchers, meanwhile, are dealing with injury issues. Right-hander Kendall Graveman is suffering from some shoulder issues, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets, though the seriousness isn’t yet clear. And while the MRI results were promising for fellow righty Jesse Hahn, MLB.com’s Jane Lee reports on Twitter, his triceps problem is likely to require a DL stint. Jharel Cotton will come up to take a rotation spot this weekend.
- Finally, the Rangers will be awaiting the results of further evaluation on righty A.J. Griffin, but he’s heading to the DL, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (via Twitter). Per a club announcement, he left his start tonight with a left intercostal strain. Even if Griffin ends up missing some time, though, it may not work out too badly for Texas. As Grant notes (Twitter links), the team could fill the opening with Tyson Ross — if he’s ready. Alternatively, Yohander Mendez could be an option. For the time being, though, veteran Dillon Gee will head onto the active roster.
Too late for the M’s. Too many key players on the DL. Just another season missing the playoffs.
So, business as usual.
Yeah but maybe this GM will finally embrace a real full rebuild.
Plenty of players to move. On the same note, I think we had a damn good team this year. Too many injuries.
So because 4/5 Of their starting rotation and Haniger gets hurt oh and Cano was on Dl oh and Segura too it’s time to blow it up? It’s like people saying the blue jays should rebuild. maybe they should but it’s still a little early to decide that plus the blue jays like the ms have been down 3/5 of their starting rotation and their star 3b and good SS. just relax people. in late June you can sound the panic alarm if you must.
Besides the Mariners and especially the Blue Jays have WAY too much invested into their current rosters to begin a rebuild.
It honestly just wouldn’t make sense for either team to begin a rebuild this season. Both teams’ rosters are talented enough, if healthy, to make late pushes towards a wild card spot. If not this season, then both could definitely make a run next year, with some minor adjustments.
Like I said, maybe both teams could re-tool their rosters over the off-season, but full on rebuilds are simply out of the question.
It kills me how anytime a “veteran team” has a slow start to their season, either from injuries and/or just an early poor performance, fans start clamoring for a full on rebuild.
Teams CANNOT and SHOULD NOT just rebuild because they are having trouble getting over the hump, contrary to some fans beliefs…
For a successful rebuild, it takes the correct timing by a front office. Not to mention there are several factors that come into play; ie., a team’s current payroll, their future commitments, their tradeable assets or non-tradeable assets, the state of the team’s current farm system, and also a team has to have some semblance of a young core in which to build around..
It isn’t as simple as, “Ohhh gee, we really suck George, where’s the DYNOMITE??”
So the White Sox made a mistake by rebuilding? Because they had a good team, similar to the Mariners, and similar to the Mariners, they could not get over the hump.
not sure I would compare the Seattle roster this year to the white Sox.
Even with everyone healthy they weren’t all that great. The Mariners are an expensive aging team. And it’s not like Felix Hernandez being hurt is making a huge difference because he hasn’t been close to being the King since 2014. It was either have the expensive veterans pitch mediocre, or have the younger pitchers fill in and pitch mediocre. Either way we still have mediocre pitching. Paxton is the only reliable starter, and for some reason people are think Smyly is going to come back and be an ace. The guy had an ERA of almost 5 last year with the best defensive center fielders in baseball. And as I’ve said before, there is no future, we have two good right field prospects in Lewis and O’Neil. Hopefully Lewis will recover fully and be able to play center field but that is doubtful now. And O’Neil’s ceiling is a .250 hitter with 35 homers. And the sad thing is that we are all getting mad at the front office for not calling up Andrew Moore or Max Povse. Well neither of them have the future of anything above a 3rd starter. It’s time to rebuild or we will be saying this same thing 15 years from now. We can’t stay in between trying to contend and rebuild any longer which is what we have done the last 15 years.
saying they aren’t great because Felix isn’t the guy from 2-3 years ago is short sided. most MLB teams wouldn’t be playoff teams with 4 AAA calibre starters in it’s rotation. also to say it’s outfield defence was better past year than it would have been if healthy again is moronic. sure the farm isn’t deep but this was a team that if healthy is at the least a wild card contender. But let’s right them off with almost 4 months left to play
Did you even read what I said?
They may want to think about trading the King he is by far one of the best pitchers in the game and they could get a haul for him just a opinion
I’m not so sure he would return quite the prospect haul one would think. Ever since his absurdly excellent 2014 season, his advanced statistics continue to regress season by season. To the point now, where I’m not so sure he would even be worth trading.
King Felix, would have to rebound from a 3 year decline, in order to regain his throne as one of the games best, and with the mileage on his arm I’m not so sure he’s capable of doing that…
I hate to say it, and I never thought I would say it, but throughout the past 3 seasons, especially the last 2, King Felix looks more like just your average middle of the rotation starter..
Yep. Felix was worked pretty hard at a very young age and I doubt we ever see much of the old Felix again.
Unfortunately I have to agree about the King. Combining the $65+ million he is owed through 2019 with his declining performance and I would be surprised if he has any positive trade value at this moment barring a significant resurgence. It’s too bad, he was one of the best of his generation.
Too bad on Hanley. I was impressed with his work at first last year. Hanley and Butterfield worked hard on defensive details and it paid off.
He ranked 15th out of 20 qualified first baseman according to ESPN’s defensive metrics for last year. Seems that you are easily impressed
Hanley is one of the most selfish and lazy players in MLB!
Did you see him in left two years ago? Anything is impressive compared to that
I’m probably one of the few that feel like the problems keeping Hanley off the field might be overstated and either Hanley or the Sox just really don’t want him out there. The whole thing just feels a bit odd.
I’m fine with it though. Mitch is much better at 1st than Hanley and while they’ve got him up with the club, anytime they want to rest Moreland, they can sub in Travis. The only time it would really gum up things was if they wanted to keep Hanleys bat in the lineup but use someone like Young as the DH instead of taking Benintendi out of the lineup.
I just don’t get how you can swing a bat 4-5 times a game with a bad shoulder, but you can’t take throws? It’s not like being a pitcher or an outfielder.
First basemen occasionally have to make throws too; like, after every out. And they are an infielder, so they occasionally have to dive for balls , make plays on bunts., throw to other bases, etc. A first baseman easily makes more throws on the field than any other player by far. Except pitchers and catchers, of course. And even if those are low-impact throws they still have wear-and-tear on a shoulder.
It’s really simple. Hanley doesn’t like to play defense. Never did. When interviewed for this subject here were his comments; “Farrell knows the deal. No Papi around anymore. No reason to work in the field. Top guy is a little slow so he says ok now. I mean, I didn’t bring a glove to Spring Training. Do you think he would get the hint?”
shouldn’t be anything unusual for the red sox. ortiz rarely played in the field.
Wasn’t the major point about signing Moreland to make sure Hanley was the regular DH?
The point which will fly over oh so many of the genius trolls who will knock the move here.
The point was to push Hanley to DH against RHP and allow them to slide Young into the lineup against lefties as a DH and shift Hanley to 1B so they wouldn’t have to sit Benitendi.
The point is that he is a vastly overpriced DH. He offers no value in the clubhouse.
Not sure what’s going on with Hanley. He felt like a larger part of the team last year than he does this year, and you can’t help but think the shoulder injury is effecting his hitting too. Solid reason for keeping him at DH, but he has underperformed this year so far regardless. Hoping for an uptick sometime this season.
What’s going on? Luci–Papi retired. Nobody to police lazy prima donas. Brings out poor chemistry in clubhouse and exposes farrell for his weak leadership. The clock is ticking…
Wait a minute? You’ve been inside he Red Sox clubhouse? You know about their chemistry? And the “value” of a clubhouse leader (with the Red Sox, by all accounts, that’s Pedroia anyway). I think that stuff is vastly overrated anyway, even if we did have a way to quantify it, which we don’t.
I mean, I’m assuming you’re a Yankees fan given your username, and just go back to some of those Yankees World-Series winning teams -the ones with Clemens and A-Rod and Leyritz – people nobody liked, who didn’t get along well with anyone. They did just fine with those guys.
Wow David. Thanks for sharing. Love your analogy however there were 100’s of players that did the same including your beloved Manny and Papi. So your cute overly simplistic summary smells of angry Boston overtones. Speaking of Papi David you missed the whole point. Ask 100 knowledgeable fans and they will ALL attribute Papi’s leadership to keeping the clubhouse in order.
Hmmm. I am actually a Padres fan. But thanks for sharing. And I don’t think you have the faintest idea about what keeps a clubhouse “in order.” Nor do I. I know the last season Clemens played with the Yankees he didn’t travel with the team. If he had to make a road start he’d fly to it solo, then beeline back to NY. And as far as ” asking 100 fans,” well fans have opinions. None of them have been in the clubhouse either.
Such a sweet note cooncie. The point is that Clemens was a pitcher at the end of his career. Not a guy that you expect to be central to the team.
You can speak for yourself about mowing what keeps a clubhouse in order. Hanley has been cancerous his whole career. Why don’t you spend a few minutes researching the episode with the marlins where the manager pulled him off the field in the middle of an inning for jacking it?
Sounds like you need to join a padres support group.
Rangers should give the kid (Yohander Mendez) a shot in the rotation.
I agree…Although, it will be interesting to see what T-Ross can do when he gets back healthy.
If the Rangers are still out of it, and Ross has proven healthy and as a viable starter, then they could definitely dangle him at the deadline. I mean if they can get a decent to fairly good prospect for him, then it is a win-win.
Then, once they trade T-Ross, they can let Mendez get his extended shot at the bigs.
Ross has pitched like 5 innings since the beginning of the 2016 season. His injury is a tricky one and the majority of the pitchers who have gotten it never really come back from it. But maybe.
He is for sure not ready.
Travis playing once a week or having pinch hit duty does not seem best for his development….
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King Felix is no better than a #5 at this stage of his career. The M’s need to replace Iwakuma this offseason with a younger arm and hope Paxton and Smily can bounce back from their injuries.
Also, I hope they can get something for Kyle Seager his .256 avg, 4 HRs, and 22 RBIs (6 more than Haniger who has missed a month) is due $18.5 million in 2018, $19 million apiece in 2019 and 2020 and $18 million in 2021. Huge waste of money.