Outside The Confines: Injuries galore, in spring

It is impossible to get through a season without a team experiencing injury on some level. Usually by the time the trade deadline comes around, contending teams are on the hunt to replace players lost to injury, and it’s impossible to know when a pitcher will need Tommy John surgery, or a fielder will strain a muscle.

The past few days in spring training an incredible spate of injuries struck, leaving some major players sidelined for indeterminate time periods.

The Blue Jays, especially, are struggling with injury. George Springer has a Grade 2 oblique strain and will be out at least a few days; pitcher Robbie Ray has a left elbow bruise, but should be in good shape for the Opening Series; reliever Kirby Yates will unfortunately most likely need Tommy John surgery and miss the whole season.

For the Padres, Fernando Tatís Jr. exited a spring training game with shoulder pain, though it appeared he was holding his hip as he left the field. He will be reevaluated, and hopefully it won’t be anything serious. The Rangers’ Khris Davis left a game with left quad strain the same day and will be reevaluated soon as well.

Kyle Freeland of the Rockies experienced a left shoulder strain, showing clear discomfort before leaving the game.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of recent injury concerns, more can be found at the link above, but it seems like the moves teams have made to be competitive for the new season might not be able to get past the wrath of the injury gods.

Now onto the links!

• Andrea Williams, who has written a wonderful book about Effa Manley, debuted on Defector this week with an important piece about what it means to ignore the rich history of Black team managers in the Hall of Fame.
• It has, unbelievably, been 20 years since one of baseball’s most bizarre and iconic moments. Zach Buchanan looks back at that time Randy Johnson exploded a bird with his pitch. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Salvador Perez won’t be leaving the Royals any time soon. Ben Clemens shares the details of his surprisingly bulky extension.
• Kim Ng made history by being the first female GM in baseball. Now, as Stephanie Apstein writes, comes the harder part of actually leading the team.
• Which teams have it easiest and hardest with the early season scheduling? David Adler compares the schedules to kick off the season.
• This could have gone better.

• Speaking of the Tigers, following a lacklustre spring, Rogelio Castillo takes his best shot at assessing a potential Opening Day lineup for the team.
• Love yourself some advanced stats? Well FanGraphs now has some exciting new stats you can sort through, shares David Appelman.
• Kelly Cohen looks into that cheeky “Thanks for Mookie Betts” sign bought by Dodgers fans and placed near Fenway Park.
• Shohei Ohtani is making history by being the first pitcher since 1901 to be starting pitcher in a game and also lead-off hitter (for more than one inning), shares Joseph Salvador.
• Ben Lindbergh wonders if the Dodgers are on course to have the best-ever win record for a season.
• The Rockies have made some questionable moves over the past few seasons, and Ken Rosenthal and Nick Groke dive deeper into those moves and what the outcome has been for the team.
• Following some divisive comments by Trevor Bauer on his performance during a game against the Mariners, Mariners manager Scott Servais planted his tongue firmly in cheek to respond.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.