Baseball Daily Dose: Daily Dose: The Story Profar
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Of all the annual prospect lists that come out around this time, it was hard to find one that didn’t have Jurickson Profar at the top in 2013.
Fantasy baseball is revving back up, and you can’t afford to miss out on any of the happenings. For all the latest news and notes around the league, keep refreshing Rotoworld’s player news page and also be sure to follow @Rotoworld_BB and @Nate_Grimm on Twitter.
The shortstop phenom was coming off an age-19 season in which he’d hit .281/.368/.452 with 14 homers and 16 steals at Double-A. Scouts believed he was defensively gifted enough to stick at shortstop at the major league level. He was the total package.
So Thursday provided a harsh reminder that, while there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect, there’s rarely such thing as a prospect at all. It came out Thursday that Profar, after missing the entire 2013 season with a shoulder injury, will have surgery Monday to fix a partially torn labrum in the same shoulder.
The Rangers have yet to provide any timetable for his return, but there is a distinct chance the surgery will force him to miss the entire 2015 season.
“We won’t have a timetable until after the surgery,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday. “Realistically the best-case scenario is to have him playing by the end of the season. Obviously we feel first and foremost for Jurickson. He worked hard and was in tremendous shape. He worked hard and gave rehab every possible chance to succeed. He did everything he could, it just didn’t work out.”
Doctors recommended surgery in September, but Profar chose to attempt to rehab the injury instead. An MRI Tuesday discovered the bad news.
Though there’s no silver lining to a career-threatening injury — especially for a team that was the most injury-prone of any last season — the Rangers were already set at middle infield before Profar’s setback. The club has pricey shortstop Elvis Andrus and up-and-coming second baseman Rougned Odor — the elder Odor, that is — slated to start on Opening Day. In that sense, the Rangers won’t miss much without Profar.
But they’ll certainly miss a player they figured would be a big part of their present and future. What that future now holds for Profar — he’s still only 22 years old, after all, so shoulder surgery isn’t a death sentence — is suddenly in question.
Slow Going For Owings
As if this Dose didn’t already have its fill of promising shortstops with shoulder injuries, Chris Owings is expected to be held out of the first few weeks of spring games as he continues to recover from a torn left labrum. Owings said he’s going to hit the ground running once he’s ready to play.
“Once I do start playing big-league games, it’s going to be I’m 100 percent ready to go,” Owings said. “It’s not going to be play a game and it doesn’t feel so good so take a day off.”
Owings had surgery in early October to repair the tear in his non-throwing shoulder. Injuries limited him to just 91 games in his rookie year, and Owings finished with a .261/.300/.406 line.
Despite being behind his teammates — the expectation is that he’ll miss somewhere between 8-10 games to start spring — Owings and Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale are confident he’ll be in the lineup on Opening Day. Owings wasn’t a player who was going to be drafted as a starter in fantasy leagues, so his current status does nothing to change that, but if healthy his combination of power and speed makes him a nice flyer in the late rounds of drafts.
Arbitrary Headlines
Only in baseball is an employee forced to listen to his employer list all the reasons he’s terrible at his job.
It sometimes makes for hurt feelings and awkward relationships, but most players know and understand the arbitration process by now. Still, some recent rulings have the potential to mar some existing, and some new, relations between player and team.
On Friday, the Blue Jays won their arbitration hearing against newcomer Josh Donaldson. Donaldson, who has posted consecutive seasons of 7.7 and 6.4 fWAR, respectively, asked for a raise to $5.75 million; the team, which gave up a haul of young players and prospects to acquire Donaldson from the Athletics in December, offered $4.3 million. An independent arbiter sided with the Jays, and Donaldson will make $4.3 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility.
Two other sluggers won their arbitration cases. Pedro Alvarez and the Pirates differed by just $500,000 — Alvarez asked for $5.75 million, and the Bucs offered $5.25 million — but the sides went to arbitration anyway, as the Pirates employ a file-and-trial philosophy regarding arbitration. And in the end, Alvarez got the extra cash he was looking for, as an arbiter awarded him $5.75 million for the coming year.
Mark Trumbo, who played just 88 games in his first year with the Diamondbacks, also beat his club in the courtroom. The Diamondbacks had offered $5.3 million for Trumbo’s services in 2015, while Trumbo asked for $6.9 million. Perhaps because the Diamondbacks filed so low — the $5.3 million would have been just a $500,000 raise from Trumbo’s 2014 salary — the outfielder was awarded the $6.9 million. Nice.
Quick Hits: Not all arbitration cases went to trial. A few closers settled with their respective teams before a hearing could take place. Of note: the Diamondbacks and Addison Reed met at $4.875 million; the Reds agreed with Aroldis Chapman for $8.05 million; and Greg Holland and the Royals settled at $8.25 million … Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) threw his first bullpen session of spring Thursday. Tanaka missed time with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament last season, so while he avoided surgery it’s far from a sure thing that he’ll make it through 2015 without incident … Paul Goldschmidt, who suffered a broken hand in late August, said the hand is completely healed. If healthy, Goldy will once again be a five-category beast who should contend for top spot at the first base position … a reunion is in store this spring after the Athletics signed Barry Zito to a minor league deal. The southpaw will earn $1 million if he makes the team out of spring, and Zito can earn another $175,000 in incentives during the season … Brandon Moss (hip) is on pace to be cleared for Cactus League games by the middle of March. That timetable gives him a reasonable shot at being ready for Opening Day, although it’s far from a certainty … after a long offseason, it appears Everth Cabrera might have found a landing spot. The 28-year-old is talking with the Orioles and, while it may not get done this week, it seems as though he’ll wind up in Baltimore. J.J. Hardy is entrenched as the starter at shortstop, but with Cabrera’s speed and Jonathan Schoop‘s tenuous hold on the second base position there’s reason to believe Cabrera could find regular playing time with the O’s. If so, his ability to swipe bags makes him a player to remember, even in standard mixed leagues.
Of all the annual prospect lists that come out around this time, it was hard to find one that didn’t have Jurickson Profar at the top in 2013.
Fantasy baseball is revving back up, and you can’t afford to miss out on any of the happenings. For all the latest news and notes around the league, keep refreshing Rotoworld’s player news page and also be sure to follow @Rotoworld_BB and @Nate_Grimm on Twitter.
The shortstop phenom was coming off an age-19 season in which he’d hit .281/.368/.452 with 14 homers and 16 steals at Double-A. Scouts believed he was defensively gifted enough to stick at shortstop at the major league level. He was the total package.
So Thursday provided a harsh reminder that, while there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect, there’s rarely such thing as a prospect at all. It came out Thursday that Profar, after missing the entire 2013 season with a shoulder injury, will have surgery Monday to fix a partially torn labrum in the same shoulder.
The Rangers have yet to provide any timetable for his return, but there is a distinct chance the surgery will force him to miss the entire 2015 season.
“We won’t have a timetable until after the surgery,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Thursday. “Realistically the best-case scenario is to have him playing by the end of the season. Obviously we feel first and foremost for Jurickson. He worked hard and was in tremendous shape. He worked hard and gave rehab every possible chance to succeed. He did everything he could, it just didn’t work out.”
Doctors recommended surgery in September, but Profar chose to attempt to rehab the injury instead. An MRI Tuesday discovered the bad news.
Though there’s no silver lining to a career-threatening injury — especially for a team that was the most injury-prone of any last season — the Rangers were already set at middle infield before Profar’s setback. The club has pricey shortstop Elvis Andrus and up-and-coming second baseman Rougned Odor — the elder Odor, that is — slated to start on Opening Day. In that sense, the Rangers won’t miss much without Profar.
But they’ll certainly miss a player they figured would be a big part of their present and future. What that future now holds for Profar — he’s still only 22 years old, after all, so shoulder surgery isn’t a death sentence — is suddenly in question.
Slow Going For Owings
As if this Dose didn’t already have its fill of promising shortstops with shoulder injuries, Chris Owings is expected to be held out of the first few weeks of spring games as he continues to recover from a torn left labrum. Owings said he’s going to hit the ground running once he’s ready to play.
“Once I do start playing big-league games, it’s going to be I’m 100 percent ready to go,” Owings said. “It’s not going to be play a game and it doesn’t feel so good so take a day off.”
Owings had surgery in early October to repair the tear in his non-throwing shoulder. Injuries limited him to just 91 games in his rookie year, and Owings finished with a .261/.300/.406 line.
Despite being behind his teammates — the expectation is that he’ll miss somewhere between 8-10 games to start spring — Owings and Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale are confident he’ll be in the lineup on Opening Day. Owings wasn’t a player who was going to be drafted as a starter in fantasy leagues, so his current status does nothing to change that, but if healthy his combination of power and speed makes him a nice flyer in the late rounds of drafts.
Arbitrary Headlines
Only in baseball is an employee forced to listen to his employer list all the reasons he’s terrible at his job.
It sometimes makes for hurt feelings and awkward relationships, but most players know and understand the arbitration process by now. Still, some recent rulings have the potential to mar some existing, and some new, relations between player and team.
On Friday, the Blue Jays won their arbitration hearing against newcomer Josh Donaldson. Donaldson, who has posted consecutive seasons of 7.7 and 6.4 fWAR, respectively, asked for a raise to $5.75 million; the team, which gave up a haul of young players and prospects to acquire Donaldson from the Athletics in December, offered $4.3 million. An independent arbiter sided with the Jays, and Donaldson will make $4.3 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility.
Two other sluggers won their arbitration cases. Pedro Alvarez and the Pirates differed by just $500,000 — Alvarez asked for $5.75 million, and the Bucs offered $5.25 million — but the sides went to arbitration anyway, as the Pirates employ a file-and-trial philosophy regarding arbitration. And in the end, Alvarez got the extra cash he was looking for, as an arbiter awarded him $5.75 million for the coming year.
Mark Trumbo, who played just 88 games in his first year with the Diamondbacks, also beat his club in the courtroom. The Diamondbacks had offered $5.3 million for Trumbo’s services in 2015, while Trumbo asked for $6.9 million. Perhaps because the Diamondbacks filed so low — the $5.3 million would have been just a $500,000 raise from Trumbo’s 2014 salary — the outfielder was awarded the $6.9 million. Nice.
Quick Hits: Not all arbitration cases went to trial. A few closers settled with their respective teams before a hearing could take place. Of note: the Diamondbacks and Addison Reed met at $4.875 million; the Reds agreed with Aroldis Chapman for $8.05 million; and Greg Holland and the Royals settled at $8.25 million … Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) threw his first bullpen session of spring Thursday. Tanaka missed time with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament last season, so while he avoided surgery it’s far from a sure thing that he’ll make it through 2015 without incident … Paul Goldschmidt, who suffered a broken hand in late August, said the hand is completely healed. If healthy, Goldy will once again be a five-category beast who should contend for top spot at the first base position … a reunion is in store this spring after the Athletics signed Barry Zito to a minor league deal. The southpaw will earn $1 million if he makes the team out of spring, and Zito can earn another $175,000 in incentives during the season … Brandon Moss (hip) is on pace to be cleared for Cactus League games by the middle of March. That timetable gives him a reasonable shot at being ready for Opening Day, although it’s far from a certainty … after a long offseason, it appears Everth Cabrera might have found a landing spot. The 28-year-old is talking with the Orioles and, while it may not get done this week, it seems as though he’ll wind up in Baltimore. J.J. Hardy is entrenched as the starter at shortstop, but with Cabrera’s speed and Jonathan Schoop‘s tenuous hold on the second base position there’s reason to believe Cabrera could find regular playing time with the O’s. If so, his ability to swipe bags makes him a player to remember, even in standard mixed leagues.
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