Zach Britton appears to be making good progress in his recovery from Achilles tendon surgery, and some in the Orioles organization think the closer could return to action by early June, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. An even quicker return isn’t out of the question, though Britton’s 60-day DL placement means that May 28 is the absolute earliest he can get back on the field, and the O’s might not want to rush him unless they’re absolutely certain Britton is ready to go.
Here are some more items from both the AL and NL East divisions…
- Blue Jays manager John Gibbons told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi (Twitter links) and other reporters that infielder Gift Ngoepe will break camp with the team. Veteran Danny Espinosa was recently signed to a minor league deal to provide some competition for the utility field job, though it appears Ngoepe will head north to begin the season. He’ll provide backup at shortstop behind Aledmys Diaz, who is himself filling in at the position for the injured Troy Tulowitzki. Gibbons also said that more roster moves will be in the works tomorrow, as the Jays need to clear 40-man roster spots for John Axford and Tyler Clippard.
- One of those 40-man spots could be opened up if Tulowitzki is moved to the 60-day DL, as the Blue Jays veteran continues to be plagued by bone spurs in his right ankle. Davidi reports that Tulowitzki is visiting with an ankle specialist tomorrow to determine the next course of action, and surgery could be a possibility.
- The Mets don’t have another trade in the works involving Bryce Brentz, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports, so it looks like they will try to keep the outfielder in the organization. Brentz was claimed off waivers from the Pirates on Monday and would have to pass through waivers again before the Mets could send him down to Triple-A, as Brentz is out of minor league options. New York already has a crowded outfield picture that includes Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Juan Lagares, and Brandon Nimmo, plus Phillip Evans and Jose Reyes capable of corner outfield work and Michael Conforto expected back from the DL early in the season.
- Sam Fuld’s status as a former player and a newly-minted member of the Phillies analytics department makes him an ideal conduit for bridging the gap between advances metrics and everyday baseball use, Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Daily News writes. “Players are told to do something from someone that doesn’t quite have playing experience at a high level and it can be frustrating when you’re told to do something that is really, really difficult,” Fuld said. “It’s taken for granted sometimes. Hopefully I can relate.” Rhys Hoskins, for one, has already taken to Fuld’s advice, such as using a “cheat sheet” to determine specific batter-by-batter positioning while in the outfield.
They need Teoscar up north !!!!!
He’s earned it
He is still striking out 30+% of the time. And, the Jays have 4 MLB ready outfielders. I’m sure if any of them stumble out of the gates or get injured and Teo continues to rake in Buffalo that he’ll earn a callup.
Swing and miss is part of hernandez’s Game. Maybe he improves on that but I wouldn’t bet on it. The way he approaches his ABS I can’t imagine him being a guy who K’s less than 25% of the time and even that would be a substantial improvement.
His BABIP in Spring Training this year calls for regression. No way he can keep that up.
super fuld at it again
Taking Ngeope north tells me the Jays don’t have a chance to win anything. Very few championship clubs can’t have that many guaranteed outs in the lineup like him and Maile. Should have kept Ryan Goins instead. Good glove and much better bat.
Teoscar deserves the opportunity.
Mind boggling the Jays didn’t upgrade their back up catcher position when options were out there. Rupp is now available. He’s certainly better than what they have in house.
Goins is nowhere near good glove and has the 3rd worst obp all time for a LHH. This is easily the dumbest comment I’ve seen .
That was meant to say gold. He was a negative drs and had a poor uzr at short and was slightly above average at 2b.
And Goins is much better than Ngoepe, imagine how bad Ngoepe numbers will be.
Goins sucks. The fact you think he is gold glove caliber and the fact that you think his bat is decent shows how idiotic you are. Ngoepe is terrible but he is also the backups backup. Solarte and Diaz were brought in as Goins replacement and they are much much better. Ngoepe is the equivalent of the 2nd backup or Rob Refsnyder from last year.
You are whining about the 5th MIF option and the backup catcher? Really?!
LOL
O’s fan here. Even if Britton comes back healthy, one would imagine that he’s still a step or two removed from his former confident self. Even in limited action last year he wasn’t there, and he’s now even further removed from being the game’s best closer. It will be interesting too to see how this impacts his trade value. (I’m operating under the assumption that the O’s—who do as good a job as anyone building a bullpen and therefore can deem him, and his salary, expendable—will look to get value in return for him by the trade deadline.)
I wouldn’t be shocked to see the O’s finish in third. Maybe second shouldn’t be completely out of the question either.
So pot is legal in your state?
He’s right
Britton will have to hit the ground running in June and hope he has enough save opportunities in June and July to establish significant value by the deadline. As you suggest, that’s a tall order. Otherwise BAL can either attempt to extend him, extend the QO, or let him walk. At any rate Duquette has his work cut out for him in terms of what to do with Britton, Machado, and Jones over the next 4 months.
I’m not sure if Tulo being put on the 60 day DL is even a bad thing. He was awful last year.
It’s to the point that TOR has to be happy getting anything whatsoever out of him from year to year, and that’s a horrible position to take given his contract. When he is healthy (which is a rare occasion) I can’t help thinking how and when he’ll hit the DL again.
Why in the world would the Mets sin another OFer ?
Outfield depth….for AAA.
Once Conforto comes back, I hope it pushes Bruce to 1B, A-Gon to the street, and then the Mets have Ces, Nimmo/Lagares, and Conforto. Brentz would be the next guy up.
i guess they don’t believe in Jayce Boyd or Victor Cruzado.