Spring training has featured a number of injuries thus far and many have been to star players. The New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles are some teams that have taken a hit.
Yankees' outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury suffered a mild lower abdominal strain on Tuesday, according to WFAN's Sweeny Murti, and he's expected to miss at least the next two days. Manager Joe Girardi stressed that the injury isn't serious, so it's unlikely this will affect Ellsbury's status for Opening Day. However, such strains need to be taken care of properly or else they can linger and cause more serious issues.
In Tampa, the Rays are dealing with yet another blow to their starting rotation. On top of Drew Smyly experiencing a sore shoulder and Alex Colome out indefinitely with pneumonia, their current No. 1 starter, Alex Cobb, was diagnosed with tendinitis in his forearm after exiting his start on Tuesday, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Cobb underwent an MRI after his outing and there's a possibility he'll miss the first few weeks of the regular season. If that's the case, Chris Archer will take Cobb's place as the Opening Day starter.
Staying in the AL East, the Boston Red Sox are faced with an injury to their closer. Koji Uehara suffered a strained right hamstring during conditioning drills on Tuesday and he's considered day-to-day, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. The right-hander was already off to an inauspicious start this spring, having surrendered seven hits and two earned runs in three innings of work. Boston can't afford injuries to their bullpen, especially in the closer role, because they don't have many reliable options at this point.
Speaking of closers, Los Angeles Dodgers' ninth-inning man, Kenley Jansen, underwent surgery earlier in the offseason (one month ago) to remove a growth from his foot and doctors said he would miss 2-3 months. The right-hander is making progress from his injury and is off his crutches for good, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, and played catch from a distance of 60 feet yesterday.
"I was able to land on the foot and there was no pain," said Jansen. "I just have to take is slowly. It's still healing, but I didn't feel anything wrong."
But perhaps the biggest blow came in Baltimore. The Orioles have shut down Matt Wieters from catching due to tendinitis in his elbow, according to Eduardo A. Ancina of the Baltimore Sun. The team consulted with Dr. James Andrews, who performed Wieters' Tommy John surgery last year, and arrived at the decision, deeming it a precautionary move.
He's still permitted to serve as a designated hitter, but Baltimore will need him at catcher or else he may have to start the season on the disabled list
These five teams will need their players back as soon as they're healthy, so we'll be keeping track of their progress as spring training continues.
UPDATE: Koji Uehara says he should be ready for Opening Day, but "it might be a close call," according to the Boston Globe.
UPDATE: Rays president of baseball operations Matt Silverman expects Cobb to be back in mid-April, according to The Associated Press.
