The latest on some player health situations from Spring Training…
- Jorge Alfaro was a scratch from the Marlins’ lineup today due to left oblique tightness (Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald was among those to report the news). Alfaro is day-to-day, though obviously any type of oblique issue is a concern, given how such injuries have been known to keep players out for weeks at a time depending on the severity. On the plus side, Alfaro isn’t being sent for an MRI, according to reporter Craig Mish (via Twitter). After a 2019 that saw Alfaro hit .262/.312/.425 with 18 homers over 465 PA while posting some subpar blocking and framing numbers, Alfaro is still considered to be Miami’s first-choice catcher heading into 2020, though the club did add Francisco Cervelli as a veteran complement this winter.
- Newly-acquired Nationals reliever Will Harris “tweaked his abdomen” in the wake of a bullpen session yesterday, manager Davey Martinez told MASNsports.com’s Pete Kerzel and other media. MRI results were negative, and Martinez said the team was opting “to be on the conservative side,” so it doesn’t sound as if the problem is overly serious. Harris signed a three-year, $24MM free agent deal with the Nationals this winter, going from the Astros to the team that defeated them in last fall’s World Series.
- Speaking of the Astros, Justin Verlander threw 30 pitches of a live batting practice rather than a scheduled Spring Training start against Washington today. It would have been Verlander’s first official outing of the spring, but the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner told reporters (including MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola) that he “wanted to be in a little more controlled environment” after suffering minor discomfort in his right groin earlier this week. Verlander left the simulated two-inning session feeling good, and he is still scheduled to start Houston’s game against the Cardinals on Tuesday. It is still unclear at to how this setback could impact Verlander’s usual preseason routine and his potential readiness for Opening Day, as “it all depends on where I’m at when I start in games,” the right-hander said. “If there’s a lot of stuff I need to work on, then I don’t have a lot of time to do it. But if I feel pretty good and my stuff’s working, it’s just about building my pitch count. It’s kind of a TBD.”
Verlander isn’t ready to get booed.
I was thinking the same thing.
Hahaha!
I will boo loudest for him.
Why would you boo him? Verlander is a class act
I think it’s embarrassing to boo anyone. People honestly look like a slob cows when they do it. I’m mortified for them. Especially if they have children with them.. sooo awkward and humiliating
You think that’s bad? I get your visual description. But how about being a Dodger fan and hearing fellow Dodger fans yell, “Yankees suck!” This was during their previous inter league series circa 2014. Talk about idiot, drunk, semi-hoodish fans. The last Dodger game I’ve been to, decided that I must on the opposite end of the bell curve as the drunk males between 20-40 who proudly claim their ifgnorance. Dodgers have 6 titles, behind Cards & Athletics and well behind NYY with some 20-odd championships. Pardon the rant, just can’t help thinking that a good majority of sports fans are not that bright.
Kosmo, I do agree with you point though.
Nobody cares that JV is classy, or that he’s a pitcher and didn’t cheat, or that he wasn’t even here the first four months of 2017. Logic has completely gone out the window and everyone is just doing whatever makes them feel good. Jake Marisnick was cheered by Mets fans despite using the system as much as anyone, while Altuve is lustily booed despite not using it. Prospects who weren’t even on the team have been plunked already. No one cares about facts.
This is a great post
sounds about right
I was thinking the same thing too allamerican n Sam!
If Verlander flinches at the sound of a banging trash, it could aggregate the strained area. Sarcasm 101!
“Controlled environment”
No booing lol
“Complete silence please, while I get into character…”
That would be a chump move to not be on the roster the opening days. Avoid the worst boos. JV is the ultimate hypocrite
how is he a hypocrite?
Not sure what he meant by this exactly. But it is funny how the dude complains about baseballs and the lack of integrity it gives the game… but didn’t say jack about when his whole organization did it.
Also equally humorous was when he didn’t want to speak to a reporter from Detroit due to “ethical issues from the past”. I wonder if that reporter cheated getting an interview with him or something.
Verlander also seemed like a whiney primadonna, but he sure solidified that and then some.
How about calling out specifically Dee Gordon for cheating when he was suspended for PEDs and then not saying anything about his team cheating when it won them a world series. Doesn’t get much more textbook hypocritical than that.
JV was a leading advocate on morality and ‘playing the game the right way’ before Houston. “It’s not about gamesmanship anymore..I think it’s a different level now. It’s not good.” 2017 tigers interview. “If there is proven intent to cheat — i.e. you tested positive or it’s found that you were taking an illegal substance, PEDs, and trying to cheat the system, trying to go around it — I think it should be a ban from baseball,” Verlander 2016 interview
Against domestic violence until player accused is on his team then silence!
That’s not true. JV was outspoken when Osuna was traded for.
In Verlander’s defense, he was traded to the Astros at the waiver deadline in 2017, and I’m not sure if anyone–God, included–could walk into a clubhouse that included Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann and tell those guys anything. As a pitcher that started his tenure as an Astro with 1 month left in the season in 17, he may not have even known about what was happening.
The Astros are pieces of crap, I don’t disagree, but I put much more of the blame on the hitters and AJ Hinch’s lack of a backbone then I do any of their pitchers.
Osuna!
Boooooooooo
MLB chickened out and let the stros off easy. They should have never granted immunity, if that meant the Players Association coming out against any punishment so be it but for it to be a non starter is chicken $hit. And what about the ridiculous spin rate changes all pitchers experience coming over to the Astros and the use of synthetic substances to achieve those spin rates ? What happened to those allegations being investigated?