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There isn’t all that much for Blue Jays news today, but there are a couple of things worth noting:
- Marco Estrada’s back was bothering him last night. You’ll remember that he missed some time in 2016 because of his back. He said he was ‘fine going in’ yesterday but the back stuff came up during the game.
Estrada “I had a little something pop up but it wasn’t a big deal. I don’t know what happened. My lower back kind of got me a little bit today.I don’t know if it’s the cold or what but it spasmed up a little bit and I was struggling to follow through on certain pitches" #BlueJays
— Gregor Chisholm (@gregorMLB) April 12, 2018
- Josh Donaldson is still suffering “dead arm” issues. I’m figuring, since it has gone on this long, it is more than dead arm. As for why he didn’t pinch hit, John Lott in the Athletic wrote that because he was having a day off:
That meant he would not have to go through his regular strength and conditioning routine. He would rest.
And it was a chilly night.
“I don’t want to say the weather completely had something to do with it, but … it’s not like I can just walk from the bench to go out there in conditions like we’re playing in right now,” Donaldson said.
It sounds like he can’t just jump up and hit, that he has to do his conditioning before the game and be warm before he hits, or body parts will just snap off. I think he’s going to be having days off fairly regularly by the sound of things.
- Thankfully it looks like it will be warmer, if maybe also wetter, in Cleveland for our series there. Forcasted to be 21C there tomorrow, but Saturday and Sunday have thunderstorms in the forecast.
- As well as all the brawls yesterday there was a bad injury, Elvis Andrus got hit by pitch and has a fractured elbow. With Odor already out, the Rangers middle infield will look different over the next little while.
- Speaking of injuries, it was 5 year ago today that Jose Reyes wrecked his ankle sliding into second base. He would end up out of the lineup until late June. Those of us that watched it will remember it well. He had to be carted off the field and it was painful enough that he cried.
Munenori Kawasaki was called up to take his roster spot, his first time up with the Jays and he ended up playing 96 games, hitting .229/.326/.308, but his fun numbers were off the chart.