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Archives for February 2023

The Opener: Suzuki, Alvarez, Chisholm

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With spring baseball now in full swing, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Suzuki injury update today

Following multiple reports (including from MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian) that Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki underwent an MRI yesterday to examine an oblique issue that has kept him out of the lineup in Cactus League play so far this spring, more details on the injury and Suzuki’s situation going forward are expected sometime today. Aside from being the everyday right fielder and one of the most important bats on the north side of Chicago, Suzuki is also currently slated to partake in the World Baseball Classic, suiting up for Japan. Any injury of significance the MRI reveals would likely endanger Suzuki’s participation in the WBC, even if he could still ultimately be expected to be ready for Opening Day. Should Suzuki miss time in the regular season, Trey Mancini and Christopher Morel seem likely to see time in the outfield, or perhaps Nelson Velazquez could get an extended run in the outfield after debuting in 2022.

2. What’s going on with Yordan?

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is still not swinging a bat, manager Dusty Baker told reporters Sunday (including Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). This comes nearly a week after it was reported that Alvarez was suffering from soreness in his left hand, and on the heels of a 2022 season where the slugger dealt with soreness in both hands multiple times throughout the year. Initial reports suggested that Alvarez would begin swinging the bat in the following days, but clearly that did not come to fruition.

Little information has been provided about the situation, with both Baker and Alvarez himself downplaying the issue but also repeatedly declining to get into specifics. Given the Astros have not provided a timeline for Alvarez’s return to action, it’s hard to say to what level this issue will impact the slugger’s ramp up for Opening Day. Still just 25 years old, Alvarez was among the best hitters in baseball last season. He slashed .306/.406/.613 in 2022, good for a 185 wRC+ that was second only to Aaron Judge among qualified MLB players.

3. Jazz’s debut in center

Marlins star Jazz Chisholm Jr. made his debut in center field yesterday against the Cardinals. Chisholm had spent the entirety of his career to this point as a middle infielder, but following offseason deals to bring former Twins hitter Luis Arraez and free agent infielder Jean Segura to Miami, the Marlins decided to try Chisholm in center. While unorthodox, the move is not unprecedented, as Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. is expected to move from his native shortstop to the outfield this season in deference to newly acquired Xander Bogaerts. The Mariners tried a similar switch with Dee Strange-Gordon back in 2018, which didn’t pan out well.

Chisholm will be learning to play center field on the fly throughout the spring. Should the experiment work, it’d give the Marlins a multi-year option in center — Chisholm is controllable through 2026 — after spending years trying to piece things together at the position. In 2022, they cobbled together production from Jesus Sanchez, JJ Bleday, and Bryan De La Cruz, each of whom is better suited for an outfield corner. Bleday has since been traded to the A’s.

Blue Jays Hire James Click As Vice President Of Baseball Strategy

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The Blue Jays announced Monday morning that former Astros general manager James Click has been hired as their new vice president of baseball strategy.

In Click’s new role, he’ll work “closely with general manager Ross Atkins and department heads on strategic planning, decision making, and evaluation.” Click will also “work across both professional and amateur levels to identify best practices, develop plans, and implement strategies.”

The Astros rather surprisingly moved on from Click just weeks after winning the 2022 World Series. Reports of mounting friction between Click and team owner Jim Crane began to surface late in the 2022 regular season, and upon conclusion of the postseason, Crane put forth a one-year extension offer that was generally viewed as a token offer that never stood a chance of being accepted. Houston spent most of the offseason operating without a general manager before hiring now-former Braves vice president of scouting Dana Brown to fill that vacancy in January.

There’s been little doubt that Click would land on his feet with another club. His three-year stint as the general manager in Houston resulted in three playoff berths, after all, two of which (2021-22) saw the ’Stros take home the American League pennant. While it’s only fair to acknowledge that the prior front office regime, headed by Jeff Luhnow, laid the groundwork for a good deal of that success with acquisitions/signings of stars like Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and others, Click oversaw trades acquiring Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero, signed free agents like Hector Neris and Ryne Stanek, and was in the GM seat for extensions of both Ryan Pressly and Alvarez.

Prior to his that three-year run with Houston, Click spent 15 years in the Rays organization. The Yale graduate first joined Tampa Bay as a baseball operations coordinator back in 2006 and slowly made his way up the organizational ladder, spending time with most departments along the way before eventually being tapped the Rays’ vice president of baseball operations in 2017. He held that post for three years before being hired away by Houston in the fallout from MLB’s investigation into the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.

The Blue Jays didn’t specify a length on Click’s contract, though it stands to reason that regardless of contract length, he’ll again emerge as a candidate for teams seeking either a general manager or president of baseball operations in the future. It’s a relatively similar situation to the one that brought Ben Cherington to the Jays for a few years. Cherington, the former Red Sox GM, was hired as a vice president of baseball operations in Toronto back in 2016, less than a year removed from being ousted in Boston. He held that post through the fall of 2019, when the Pirates hired Cherington as their new general manager.

Any future GM/president appointments for Click will obviously depend on his own appetite for returning to a position with baseball autonomy and the slate of candidates he finds himself interviewing against, but at the very least there will surely be interest in a 45-year-old exec with 15 years of experience in one of the game’s model baseball ops departments (Tampa Bay) and a three-year run in Houston that included three playoff berths, two World Series appearances and a World Series championship.

NL Central Notes: Mikolas, Walker, Hill, Senzel

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Miles Mikolas didn’t exactly suggest that he might give the Cardinals a so-called hometown discount in a new contract, even though the team’s spring camp is located in his actual hometown of Jupiter, Florida.  Mikolas noted to MLB.com’s John Denton that when he returned to the big leagues after pitching in Japan from 2015-17, “I had four or five offers that were all about the same, and I chose the Cardinals because of the organization, the fanbase and because Spring Training is in my hometown.  There are always a lot of factors that play into it, and they’ll play into it if I have a decision to make down the road.”  Of course, Mikolas also noted that other teams play near Jupiter, and joked that he wouldn’t necessarily be tied to the area since “the fishing is still pretty good on the west coast [of Florida].”

Mikolas said that “everything about being a Cardinal is fantastic” and that he is happy with St. Louis.  As far as a long-term deal is concerned, “those decisions aren’t always up to the player.  My job is to go out there and get outs as efficiently as I can, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.”  After his initial deal with the Cardinals, Mikolas already agreed to one extension with the club, and 2023 is the final season of that four-year, $68MM pact.  The Cards’ pitching outlook is a major storyline hanging over the team’s season, as Mikolas, Jack Flaherty, and Jordan Montgomery are all slated to free agency next winter and Adam Wainwright will retire after the year.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Sticking with the Cardinals, the team is planning to focus all of Jordan Walker’s spring work on the outfield, rather than any reps at his former third base position.  Manager Oliver Marmol feels Walker would be able to adjust easily back to third base if a need arose, but the skipper told Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that “when you’re making the transition as a young player, it’s hard to…stay sharp at a lot of different positions.  With this transition of [Walker] playing the outfield for the first time, we’re solely focused on him improving there rather than put too much on his plate.”  One of baseball’s top prospects, Walker has already drawn a lot of buzz after his very first spring start, and Walker seems likely to make his big league debut in 2023 even though he has yet to play at the Triple-A level.  Though the St. Louis outfield is already pretty crowded, Walker’s position change became necessary since Nolan Arenado is locked in at the hot corner.
  • Rich Hill underwent a minor elbow procedure following the 2022 season, Pirates GM Ben Cherington told Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.  Described as something of a clean-up surgery, it doesn’t appear that the procedure will impact Hill’s readiness for Opening Day, nor did it seem to hurt his free agent market — the Rangers, Red Sox, Orioles, and Angels all reportedly had interest in Hill before he signed a one-year, $8MM deal with Pittsburgh.  Hill turns 43 years old on March 11, and the 2023 season will be Hill’s 19th Major League campaign.
  • Reds manager David Bell shed some more light on Nick Senzel’s recovery timeline, telling reporters (including Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that the hope is for Senzel to be playing in Spring Training games by the middle of March.  There was already an expectation that Senzel would be somewhat slowly ramped up to action while he returns to full fitness after offseason toe surgery, and a mid-March return date might allow for Senzel to be ready for Cincinnati’s Opening Day lineup.  The toe surgery is the latest in a long list of injury problems for the former top prospect, who has been limited to 273 MLB games since making his Major League debut in May 2019.

Braves Sign Joe Harvey To Minors Contract

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The Braves have signed Joe Harvey to a minor league deal earlier this week, according to the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page.  Harvey has been assigned to the team’s Triple-A camp.

The 31-year-old Harvey has amassed a 3.32 ERA and a 29.75% strikeout rate over 105 2/3 Triple-A innings (all in relief) during his career, spending time with the top affiliates of the Yankees, Rockies, and Twins since the start of the 2018 season.  Those missed bats came at a price, however, as Harvey has battled his control and also had to deal with some injury concerns.  Harvey’s 2020 and 2021 seasons were both cut short by forearm strains, and he didn’t pitch at all in 2022.

Harvey’s MLB resume consists of 21 1/3 total innings, 18 of which came with the Yankees and Rockies in 2019.  He’ll look for a path back to the big leagues (or perhaps just some healthy innings whatsoever), with a Braves team that has had some luck with veteran reclamation projects in recent years.  If he can keep his walks down, Harvey might have some potential as an under-the-radar depth reliever for Atlanta’s bullpen.

NL East Notes: Hoskins, Rosario, Mauricio, Vientos

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Rhys Hoskins underwent a meniscectomy on his right knee in December, Phillies manager Rob Thomson told Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters.  The relatively minor procedure corrected some “wear and tear,” Thomson said, and Hoskins is expected to make his in-game spring debut sometime this week.

Now entering his age-30 season, Hoskins has been a quality hitter pretty much from day one in Philadelphia, hitting .242/.353/.492 with 148 home runs and producing a 125 wRC+ over 2877 career plate appearances in six MLB seasons.  Hoskins would naturally love to keep that production going in order to help the Phillies’ chances at returning to the World Series, but a big 2023 campaign would also help Hoskins as he enters free agency next winter.  The Phils already have a lot of long-term money on the books and might soon add another pricey deal if they reach an extension with Aaron Nola (another pending free agent), but it stands to reason that the club would also have some interest in locking Hoskins up to an extension.  That said, Boras Corporation clients like Hoskins usually end up testing the open market, and the Phillies might have some reservations about committing a long-term deal to a first base-only player.

More from around the NL East…

  • Eddie Rosario followed up his 2021 NLCS MVP performance with a dismal 2022 season, as the outfielder hit only .212/.259/.328 over 270 plate appearances with the Braves.  Vision problems were the root cause of Rosario’s struggles, as Rosario started to have trouble seeing the ball during last year’s Spring Training, and he still needed some adjustment time even after undergoing laser surgery and missing over two months of the season.  Fortunately, “everything is good now. I feel really good and I see really well,” Rosario told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, and both manager Brian Snitker and hitting coach Kevin Seitzer have been impressed by Rosario’s seeming return to his old form early in camp.  A revived Rosario would instantly solve the Braves’ question mark in left field, and provide a nice boost to an Atlanta team that is hoping to compete for another world championship.  2023 is the final guaranteed season of Rosario’s two-year, $18MM deal with Atlanta, though the Braves hold a $9MM club option on the veteran for the 2024 campaign.
  • The Mets will use Ronny Mauricio at shortstop and Mark Vientos as a corner infielder this spring, rather than continue to audition the prospects at different positions.  MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo writes that plans might change in the future, and some obvious roadblocks (i.e. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Eduardo Escobar, and fellow prospect Brett Baty) seem to be preventing Mauricio or Vientos from playing their regular positions at the big league level.  Of course, it is always possible that the win-now Mets might look to move either Mauricio or Vientos for a proven Major Leaguer, though New York has thus far been pretty resistant about moving too many top-tier prospects for immediate help.

Giants’ Luis Gonzalez, Donovan Walton To Miss Start Of Season

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At least one and likely two players won’t be part of the Giants’ Opening Day roster, as outfielder Luis Gonzalez and utilityman Donovan Walton have both been sidelined with injuries.  Manager Gabe Kapler told Evan Webeck of the Bay Area News Group (Twitter links) and other reporters that Gonzalez will miss the next 4-6 weeks due to a lower back strain, and the team also told the media that Walton will be out until May due to his recovery from shoulder surgery.

Kapler specified that Gonzalez’s current problem is in a different area than the back strain that hampered the outfielder last season, though it does mark the third time in less than a year that back issues that kept Gonzalez out of action.  He missed a little over two weeks in June and July dealing with his first back strain, and Gonzalez was eventually shut down with another strain in late September.

After playing nine MLB games with the White Sox in 2020-21, Gonzalez was placed on waivers after undergoing season-ending surgery and then claimed by the Giants in August 2021.  (The team non-tendered Gonzalez over the offseason but re-signed him to a new minor league deal in pretty short order.)  As Gonzalez got healthy and started to receive more playing time, it looked like a very canny pickup for San Francisco, as the outfielder had an .869 OPS over his first 112 plate appearances of the 2022 season.  Gonzalez even won NL Rookie Of The Month honors for May, but that proved to be the peak of his year, as his numbers (undoubtedly impacted by his ongoing back issues) came back to earth.  Gonzalez ended up with a slightly below-average 95 wRC+ in 350 PA, slashing .254/.323/.360 with four homers, 17 doubles, and 10 steals in 12 chances.  He also made five mop-up appearances as a pitcher in blowout games, with a 5.68 ERA to show for his 6 1/3 innings on the mound.

Heading into 2023, Gonzalez’s injury will further complicate his path to more playing time in a crowded San Francisco outfield.  The Giants were aggressive in adding to their outfield mix over the offseason, as they re-signed Joc Pederson and signed Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto in free agency.  Even with Pederson mostly slated DH duty, Haniger and Conforto are expected to be the regular corner outfield combo, with Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater penciled into center field.  LaMonte Wade Jr., Thairo Estrada, Heliot Ramos, and non-roster invitees Stephen Piscotty and Bryce Johnson might also be considered.  Gonzalez has a minor league option remaining, meaning the Giants could send him to Triple-A as further depth once he recovers from his back problem.

Walton underwent his surgery back in September, after his shoulder issues resulted in a 60-day IL placement that prematurely ended his season.  Acquired in a trade with the Mariners last May, Walton had 78 total PA in the 2022 season (all with San Francisco) and he hit .158/.179/.303.

The 28-year-old Walton has appeared in each of the last four MLB seasons, though he has only 61 big league games on his resume after being frequently back and forth between the majors and minors with both the Giants and Mariners.  Walton has played mostly second base and shortstop during his career, but he has more recently branched out to some third base and left field work in order to add to his versatility and help his chances of sticking in the Show.

The Giants non-tendered Walton last November, but then re-signed him to a new minor league deal in December.  Since Walton is out of minor league options, San Francisco might eventually face a tricky roster decision when he is healthy, though that decision is still at least a couple of months away.

Reds’ Justin Dunn Could Miss All Of Spring Training With Shoulder Issue

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TODAY: According to an MRI, Dunn has a strain in his right subscapularis muscle.  MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon notes that this same area of the rotator cuff contributed to Dunn’s injury problems in the last two seasons, though Dunn told Sheldon that “luckily, it’s not as bad” as those previous issues.  Dunn is scheduled to be examined by an orthopedic surgeon this week

FEBRUARY 23: Dunn will miss a significant portion of camp and could be sidelined for the entirety of spring training, manager David Bell told reporters Thursday (Twitter link via C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer).

FEBRUARY 22: Reds right-hander Justin Dunn experienced some shoulder discomfort late in the offseason, writes Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. While Dunn threw a brief bullpen session last week, he hasn’t returned to a mound since then.

There’s no indication Dunn is battling anything serious. Nevertheless, Nightengale writes that it’s “increasingly likely” he could be delayed by the start of the regular season with his throwing program behind schedule. If he ends up missing time during the season, it’d be the second straight year in which shoulder issues have posed a problem.

Acquired from the Mariners last Spring Training as part of the major trade that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez to the Pacific Northwest, Dunn opened his first season as a Red on the injured list. He didn’t return until early in the season’s second half. The Boston College product started seven games with Cincinnati, struggling to a 6.10 ERA with just a 15.2% strikeout rate and elevated 12.3% walk percentage over 31 innings. He also had a tough time over eight starts with Triple-A Louisville, posting a 6.21 ERA in eight starts there.

That’s obviously a season which the former first-round pick would prefer to put in the rearview mirror. Dunn understandably expressed some frustration with his recent shoulder problem, telling reporters he’d felt strong throughout the bulk of his offseason activity.

It’s a key season for the 27-year-old, who’s looking to stake a claim towards the back of an uncertain rotation. The Reds have Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft in the top three starting spots. Free agent acquisition Luke Weaver seems to have the inside track on the #4 job. There are a few pitchers who could find themselves in the mix for the fifth spot. Former reliever Luis Cessa, journeyman righty Connor Overton and prospects Brandon Williamson and Levi Stoudt could make some starts for the club. Dunn could certainly battle for a job himself, though he’ll first need to get his shoulder back to full strength.

Dunn has started 32 MLB games dating back to 2019. He owns a 4.44 ERA with subpar strikeout and walk rates (19.3% and 14.7%, respectively) in 133 2/3 career innings. Dunn is making $900K for the upcoming season and eligible for arbitration through the 2025 campaign.

Twins Sign Jeff Hoffman To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Jeff Hoffman has signed a minor league contract containing multiple opt-outs with the Minnesota Twins, reports Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Per FanSided’s Robert Murray, the opt-outs are for March 28, May 15, and June 15. The deal pays Hoffman $1.3MM when in the majors, and includes $50K incentives for pitching appearances in each of 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 games, meaning the deal’s potential value maxes out at $1.6MM total.

Hoffman, 30, was the 9th overall pick in the 2014 draft, selected by the Blue Jays. Following a swap to Colorado as part of the Troy Tulowitzki trade, Hoffman came up as a member of the Rockies in 2016, and spent parts of five seasons in a swing role for the club. Despite racking up 230 2/3 innings for the club across those five years, Hoffman never found his footing in Colorado, pitching to a 6.40 ERA (79 ERA+) with a 5.58 FIP.

Even in spite of those struggles, Hoffman’s top prospect pedigree, impressive stuff, and ability to start all intrigued the Reds enough to swap reliever Robert Stephenson for him ahead of the 2021 campaign. Out of Coors Field for the first time in his big league career, Hoffman posted back to back seasons with an above average ERA+ in 2021 and 2022, combining for a 4.28 ERA (108 ERA+) and 4.86 FIP in 117 2/3 innings of work. The 2022 season in particular was a strong one for Hoffman, who pitched largely out of the bullpen en route to a 3.83 ERA (117 ERA+) and 4.30 FIP in 44 2/3 innings.

That encouraging uptick in performance wasn’t enough for Hoffman to avoid getting non-tendered in November, however, and it’s easy to see why the Reds may have had concerns: Hoffman struggled with his control during his time in Cincinnati, walking a 12.8% of batters faced over the last two seasons, and his success last year may have been predicated, at least in part, on an unsustainable 7.5% of his fly balls leaving the yard despite an 8.7% barrel rate.

Now, Hoffman is set to compete for a role on Minnesota’s pitching staff. Such a role seems likely to come in the bullpen, given the club’s deep group of rotation options. Hoffman seems particularly likely to compete for a spot in the Twins bullpen with fellow new arrival Dennis Santana, who was claimed off waivers from the Braves earlier today. Both right-handers have big stuff and have to this point in their careers struggled with control, but has shown himself to be an interesting long-relief or swing option in the big leagues, as well.

In this hypothetical camp battle, Hoffman has prospect pedigree on his side, but Santana has the advantage of youth in addition to even more impressive stuff: his fastball ranked in the 91st percentile in 2022, per Statcast, while Hoffman’s ranked in just the 61st percentile (albeit with a more impressive 93rd percentile spin rate). Should Hoffman not make the Opening Day roster in Minnesota, the three opt-outs in his deal will provide him with ample opportunities to test the open market again, should he so choose.

Twins Claim Dennis Santana

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The Twins have claimed right-hander Dennis Santana off waivers from the Braves, Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reports. In a corresponding move, Twins shortstop Royce Lewis will be transferred to the 60-day IL. Atlanta had acquired Santana from the Rangers earlier this offseason in exchange for cash considerations. The Braves have announced the waiver claim. There had been no previous indication Santana was removed from Atlanta’s roster but they evidently tried to pass him through waivers in recent days.

Following brief stints in the majors with the Dodgers in 2018 and 2019, Santana got his first extended run of playing time in the shortened 2020 season, where he pitched out of the Dodgers bullpen in twelve games. Santana struggled in those appearances, racking up a 5.29 ERA and 5.72 FIP throughout the season. He stuck with the Dodgers into the first half of the 2021 season, though his struggles in LA continued until he was traded to the Rangers in June of that year. While Santana never found his footing in LA, struggling to a 6.48 ERA, 32% worse than league average, across his 40 2/3 innings as a Dodger, he was able to turn a corner upon arriving in Texas.

As member of the Rangers, Santana pitched to a well above average 3.63 ERA (123 ERA+) in 2021, a figure that was largely backed up by his solid 4.15 FIP. These improved results stood as Santana was catching up to his own talents as a flamethrower. His fastball had always been impressive, with his 96 mph 4-seamer ranking in the league’s 81st percentile in terms of velocity. Still, red flags were present, as Santana continued to struggle with his control. He walked a whopping 13.5% of batters in 2021 while striking out just 19.4%.

Unfortunately for Santana, 2022 proved to be a difficult season. Despite an uptick in velocity raising his fastball to an average of 97.7 mph and improved barrel and whiff rates, the right-hander’s strikeout and walk improvements, to 21.2% and 11% respectively, still left him below league average in those regards. When those below average rates are combined with an extremely low 54.3% of Santana’s runners being left on base, it’s easy to see how his ERA ballooned up to 5.22 in 2022, 24% below league average. Still, that fluky lack of stranded runners kept his FIP at a much more palatable 3.35 for the year, leaving reason for optimism headed into the 2023 season.

Santana now joins a Twins bullpen mix that includes the likes of Emilio Pagan and Jorge Alcala set to work the middle innings to bridge the gap between the starting rotation and back-end options Jhoan Duran, Jorge Lopez, and Caleb Thielbar. The acquisition of Santana also helps Minnesota build up a depth of relievers who can go multiple innings. This would help the club keep players like Josh Winder and Cole Sands in starting role at Triple-A, which the organization has previously stated as its preference. Santana is out of minor league options, meaning that if the Twins wish to retain him in the organization without putting him on the Opening Day roster, they’ll have to attempt to pass him through waivers at some point this spring.

As for Lewis, he had the misfortune of tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in June of last year. That was the same ligament he tore the previous year, leading to two straight seasons ended by ACL surgery. At the time of that injury diagnosis, his estimated timeline was given as 12 months, meaning he likely won’t be able to rejoin the club until June and making this IL placement an expected result.

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