Lorenzo Cain recently strained his calf in batting practice and is expected to miss one or two weeks, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The injury is believed to be “very minor,” but the Brewers will be cautious in bringing the veteran center fielder back to action. Yesterday’s agreement with Jackie Bradley Jr. gives the Brewers cover at the position if Cain winds up needing more recovery time than expected. Manager Craig Counsell reiterated (via Murray) that Cain “is our center fielder,” so it seems Bradley’s ticketed for right field on most days if everyone’s healthy.
A few more injury updates:
- Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto had his hard cast removed and replaced with a splint as he works his way back from a fractured right thumb, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com was among those to report. That’s a generally encouraging sign, as Zolecki notes that this had been the anticipated next step in his recovery. However, Realmuto still has not progressed to a point where he can hit or throw. It remains unclear if he’ll be ready in time for Opening Day. Something resembling a typical season from Realmuto, arguably the game’s top catcher, is no doubt a key piece of Philadelphia’s hopes of snapping a nine-year playoff drought.
- Third baseman Alex Bregman and designated hitter Yordan Álvarez haven’t yet gotten into spring training games for the Astros, but it doesn’t seem there’s much cause for concern. Bregman “tweaked” his hamstring and is taking things slowly, notes Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. The 26-year-old would be playing through the soreness if it were the regular season, he says. Álvarez is a little further from game action, per manager Dusty Baker (via McTaggart), although that seems to be mere caution after the young slugger underwent season-ending surgery on both knees last August.
- Jed Lowrie is seeing action in simulated games but has not yet been cleared to play in spring training games, Athletics manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). The former All-Star second baseman is back in A’s camp as a non-roster invitee after a two-year stint with the Mets that was ruined by injuries, most recently continued trouble with his left knee. Lowrie has taken just eight MLB place appearances since leaving Oakland after a stellar 2018 season.
- Yankees right-hander Luis Severino continues to progress “really well” from his February 2020 Tommy John surgery, general manager Brian Cashman said this afternoon (via Erik Boland of Newsday). Severino had already moved to a long toss routine and soon should be able to throw off a mound, Cashman said. One of the best pitchers in the league from 2017-18, Severino has been limited to just 12 innings over the past two seasons by injury. His return would be a boon to a New York rotation that is high on upside but has plenty of risk behind ace Gerrit Cole.
Injury Notes: My bum
Your posterior pain is maybe more than most care to know.
DoM, you’re not supposed to leave it in there.
Another long night in that tube top, short leather mini skirt, fishnet stockings and high heeled boots, ha?
Apparently, DOM is a switch at the very least.
What is the deal with Lowrie?????? 2 years with this mysterious knee pain???? Just retire if you can’t play. this is getting ridiculous
Who?
Why is he not allowed the same length of time as Pedroia? Milking an injury should be universally honored.
Jed Lowrie’s walk-up song……
“Money For Nothin”
The thing is……he doesn’t walk up.
Freddie….I may be misunderstanding you, please use more erotemes.
In all seriousness, it’s amusing that some fans think that they’re armchair judgement on what an athlete should or should not do is somehow relevant. Less sports talk bs, read more books and npr will help you.
@paddy. Wow, you really know how to come off as stuffy. If you pricked your finger would you bleed blue paint? You intentionally used the word erotemes because of how uncommonly used it is when the more common word for it, a question mark, would have been understood by all..but being understood wasn’t your goal, was it?
Yeah salary cap, forget making people use their brains, god forbid people have to take a few minutes out of their day to learn something new right?
Salarycapmythos….I actually did not know the term for question mark of the top of my head. I recalled the term “ampersands,” for the “&”symbol and vaguely recalled there was one for the question mark. I chose to use that less commonly used term as I was struck by the OP’s comedic use of the query punctuation.
Pardon me for making your fingertips strain and type something into Google….err going by your handle you likely use Bing or Yahoo.
And most that know me would not describe me as stuffy but rather the opposite . I like finding common ground with another person far more interesting than looking at the small range of differences. I tend to tease those who seem obsessed with negativity with the occasional facetious comment.
I agree. If there is a professional baseball team willing to sign him knowing his injury-plagued career, then more power to him. It’s not like the A’s gave him a lucrative contract with lots of guaranteed $$$.
Here’s erotema for you: Did Paddy use “erotemes” in a sentence? Follow your own advice and educate yourself. You clearly haven’t. But, you’re just one of many who think others to do what you will never do yourself. The first rule of writing is “Understand your Audience”. Furthermore, erotema is most effective when used in the narrative writing style.
paddy should prolly learn the diff between there their and theyre first lmfao
I hope severino comes back and lives up to the hype
Hype? He was very good. Hype usually means they haven’t proven anything yet. I don’t think Severino is unproven. He just needs to get healthy.
I don’t think you mean hype. He arguably was the top rookie pitcher in the AL in 2015 and one of the top starters in the AL in 2017 and 2018, including an All-Star selection. He’s post hype. He simply needs health.
All true, but it’s been two years and 4 starts. Probably take him a while to get back to his past self. Maybe August/September.
If Bradley is playing RF than the contract is an overpay. His value will drop.
That is only true if he was blocking a better hitter. Does switching Cain and JBJ all of a sudden make the team better than the other way around?
Corner OF has to hit more than Junoir has been providing. It matters if he is better than the guy who played RF before he came but he still would need to hit better than he has if he is going to play RF regularly. Otherwise he is an overpay by a lot.
Jason Heyward comes to mind as a great glove but not enough bat at RF
Who do they have to play RF that can hit better than JBJ?
Milwaukee could have been more pro active in signing or trading for an offensive threat who could hit the way a corner OF should hit. You make it sound like Junior is a good hitter.
JBJ is still an upgrade for them as a RF. Maybe he’s slightly overpaid relatively speaking, but not egregiously so.
Plus, Cain was one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball in 2019 – significantly better than JBJ. Obviously he’s getting older and isn’t going to play at that level forever, but I don’t think his age and the missed season are enough to completely erode his value out there.
Hold it Kirk…..as a Yankee fan who watched JBJ play center for 18 games a season against the Yankees both home and away for countless seasons, I disagree as I believe most would that Cain at 34, or in the 2019 season you reference at the age of 33, is a “significantly better” center fielder than Jackie……you’re way off base here….while JBJ may not light up the board offensively, and while Cain has pretty consistently built up his reputation both offensively and defensively, nobody, but nobody goes and gets the ball the way he does and even though I don’t see Cain play with any consistently, there is NO Way, he is significantly better than Jackie…..…can’t believe I’m defending a Red Sox player but as a baseball fan, I felt this needed to be said….surprised no Red Sox fan commented the same!
@rocky7 You are spot on your assessment of Bradley and Cain. Also, with Cain sitting out a year it makes even less sense to not put Bradley in CF and move Cain to the corner.
I agree. Signing Bradley to pay RF is a waste of his value. They should clearly be moving the older, more brittle Cain to RF, not JBJ.
A deal structured so that it’s likely a one year contract? Nonsense. The Brewers became a stronger team once the ink dried on the contract. If you’re worried they should be paying him $10M in 2021 as opposed to $13M, then you’re focused on the wrong thing. They’re a better team with him than without him. You’re welcome.
can’t say i disagree ^
They could play if the had a pimple on their ass. What a bunch of pansies.
What an incoherent post.
Lowrie is one hit away from bettering his two-year total with the Mets. Will he get there? It’s not a given.
What’s so hard to understand about what the Brewers are trying to do? Winning games with pitching and defense is good baseball. Manager Craig has proven very good at playing matchups and getting the best out of guys, the plan is to have the trio of Garcia, Bradley, and Cain all get about 450 at bats while Yelich gets the most outfield starts, seems pretty sound, they’d been doing it with Braun and now they’ll do it with better defense.
Right? Remember when the Brewers signed Cain and traded for Yelich on the same day? And everyone was like “they have too many outfielders now” …. that seemed to work out well for them. I don’t understand why some think that there’s suddenly a huge logjam in the OF now
The best thing about the JBJ signing is that it put the final nail in Braun’s career coffin. One of the worst human beings to ever suit up for a game.
Thank God the Mets didnt sign that busted up old suitcase TJR !!
Philles will regret that signing for years to come !!
35 comments in and all we have are trolls and trollbusters. MLBTR comments has really devolved to a whole new low.
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Severino soon mound-tossing is certainly welcoming news.