There’s now a rough timeline for Athletics southpaw Jesus Luzardo, who was agonizingly close to a full return from a shoulder injury — and his first taste of the majors — when he suffered a lat strain days ago. Fortunately, the hyped 21-year-old could be ready to begin a new rehab assignment within four or five weeks. That’s about as quick a potential bounce back as might have been hoped for a player who’ll assuredly be handled with extra care. It seems there’s still a reasonable shot of Luzardo being a late-season MLB option, though the A’s will not be able to assume that they’ll get a shot in the arm from the top prospect.
Here’s more from the American League:
- Blue Jays right-hander Marcus Stroman will not take the ball again before the All-Star break, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets. Stroman hasn’t pitched since he exited a June 29 start with a left pectoral cramp, though the injury may not be severe enough to prevent him from participating in the All-Star Game, according to Nicholson-Smith. Regardless, the team’s hope is he’ll start its first game after the break. The fact that Stroman’s one of the game’s most obvious trade candidates makes his health all the more crucial with the July 31 deadline coming up.
- There was some good news and bad news today on the injury front for the Twins, as Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports (Twitter links). Outfielder Eddie Rosario, on the IL with a sprained ankle since June 28, is making progress and should return shortly after the All-Star break, manager Rocco Baldelli suggested. Meanwhile, the left oblique strain that forced fan favorite and utilityman Willians Astudillo to the IL on June 27 is “significant,” per Baldelli. It could keep Astudillo out “for the foreseeable future,” Park writes.
- Tigers prospect Casey Mize has resumed throwing after a recent injury scare, GM Al Avila told reporters including Chris McCosky of the Detroit News (via Twitter). That’s not of immediate consequence for the Detroit club, but is certainly excellent news for the team’s long-term outlook. Mize, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick and one of the majors’ elite farmhands, has been on the minor league IL with right shoulder inflammation for three weeks. The 22-year-old laid waste to his competition before then, combining for a 0.92 ERA with 8.7 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 78 innings between High-A and Double-A ball.
Laibax
“A’s can’t assume they’ll get a shot in the arm from Luzardo” ANY ARM AT THIS POINT WILL HELP
athleticsnchill
The A’s are 9 games over .500, have the 7th best ERA in the game and our rotation has the 9th highest dWAR (with some help from Montas). Somehow, we’re actually doing fine.
drgntrnr
People seem to be completely ignoring the great pitching we’ve been getting from Fiers/Brett/Bassitt, and think our rotation is just non existent outside of when we had Montas; when those 3 are one of the biggest reasons we’re not only in the race but still winning against good teams.
athleticsnchill
Even Tanner Anderson hasn’t been that bad. In his 5 or 6 starts he’s been passable, with that last start against the Angels really inflating his ERA. Otherwise his FIP is 4.50 or so. We can work with that for now.
bowserhound
Need to get a decent loogy to keep the pen fresh if, more like when the starters can’t make it out of the 2nd. The non-existent starting depth is showing big time.
athleticsnchill
We have 2 loogy’s, Buchter and Wang. Buchter is back to his old self and holding left handed batters to a .167 BA and Wang is holding left handed batters to a .125 BA.
We’re good on the loogy front.
jimmertee
Yah sure, Stroman has a cramp. Again with the shapiro/Atkins spin of lies to the fans. According to sources it is a very minor tear that can be healed with rest and appropriate treatment.
This BlueJays lying to the fans has to stop. They have been doing since 2016 with the “we want to be competitive” BS.
A little BlueJays integrity would be nice.
How does Shapiro and Atkins keep their jobs?
its_happening
Is that a rhetorical question? The answer is obvious. Ownership. I think it was rhetorical…
zwmartin
This his the 20th season Shapiro has run an MLB franchise. He’s one one division title. One. Pretty wild.
infractor
Tinfoil hats on, everyone – Jim’s got a theory!
its_happening
Thanks for adding nothing.
Iron Mike
what did jimmertee add? another fake hot take implying he has some inside source connected to the front office? or his same ” fire shapiro” rant? why dont you 2 go hold hands and skip off into the sunset together. you’re both brutal and ruin every Jays thread
its_happening
Few points, soft Mike….
– Might want to capitalize after a period
– Learn how to execute quotations
– Two instead of 2
– Stop endorsing online bullying
You’ve tried in the past to be awful to those you disagree with. I’m not certain you are an authoritarian on who should leave this website considering your input is sparse and questionable at-best. I understand completely as you are a fan of baseball mediocrity and winning is not part of your vocabulary. I just ask that you wear your Maple Leafs gear while you write your constant nonsense.
Iron Mike
Ive played and watched baseball my entire life, so not sure what that Maple Leafs shirt comment means. And ive never bullied anyone on this site. You and jimmer have a stupid comment to make on every jays thread and its been old for quite some time now. i honestly could care less about my supposed grammatical errors. only toolbags like you correct things like that
Iron Mike
And isn’t that little insulting spin you put on everyones user name during a reply your own lame passive aggressive attempt at bullying? you’re a piece of work, man.
jdgoat
Agreed
its_happening
You started in on me, son. You call people stupid while showing what stupid is with your writing.
I also know you are rattled and angry because it took you two posts to get your message across. If I made your Saturday less than enjoyable, you only have yourself to blame.
If you ever played meaningful baseball in your entire life you’d actually have something worthwhile to say about the Blue Jays. You haven’t and therefore you don’t. Spare me your insanity and leave the thinking to the real baseball fans like us.
Iron Mike
you’re right. the true measure of baseball fandom is posting worthwhile comments on threads and correcting grammer. You’re a clown. I’ll let you get back to playing fantasy land GM and your grammer homework, and ill continue having a great day .
Taejonguy
ignore the troll Mike…
its_happening
Nothing to panic over so long as Stroman pitches immediately after the break. If his start is pushed back then there is a story with this pec injury.
Hopefully we will be kept abreast of the situation….
jimmertee
Lol. Abreast. Lesser mortals missed this.
FYI, Derek Law move is imminient. The Jays are fielding calls about Maile of all people.
charlesk
No doubt this is a preloaded excuse for when Atkins trades Stroman for nothing of value, just like with Happ, Donaldson, Pillar, Smith Jr, etc… the line will be “he didn’t have any trade value because he was hurt…” or some other such BS lie. #FireShapkins #DumpsterFire
JimM
Jesus Luzardo = Alex Reyes and God knows if either will ever make an impact.