TORONTO — Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki will join the Dunedin Blue Jays on a rehab assignment Saturday as he continues to recover from a strained right hamstring suffered three weeks ago during a 13-inning game against the Los Angeles Angels.
Tulowitzki is scheduled to play Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (Dunedin is off Sunday), and if all goes well the plan is for him to rejoin the Blue Jays proper Wednesday when they begin a three-series road trip in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, designated hitter Kendrys Morales took an encouraging step forward Friday, running lightly on the field at Rogers Centre before his club’s game that night vs. the Seattle Mariners. Morales hasn’t played since tweaking his left hamstring while running out a groundball on Tuesday, with an MRI revealing a grade 1 strain.
But Morales is rapidly improving, and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said he could even be available to pinch hit Friday night if his club is in a bind. It’s much more likely Morales is given another night off, however, before making his return to action in the coming days. Gibbons described Morales’ chances of starting Saturday’s game as “slim.”
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Elsewhere in a crowded Blue Jays infirmary, third baseman Josh Donaldson told his manager he’s feeling better and continuing to improve as he recovers from persistent right calf issues at the Blue Jays’ rehab facility in Dunedin. The Blue Jays have been without Donaldson for a month, and while he’s making progress, Gibbons says the team doesn’t yet have a timetable for his return.
“I’m not sure exactly his schedule, but he says he feels better,” Gibbons said. “We miss him—there’s no doubt about that.”
The Blue Jays will at least get one player back from the sick bay this weekend when Aaron Sanchez takes the mound to start Sunday’s series finale against the Mariners.
Sanchez first hit the DL in mid-April due to blister issues on the middle finger of his right hand, and had a quarter of his finger nail removed lengthwise to help alleviate the pressure. Sanchez made an attempted comeback on April 30 vs. Tampa, but left the outing after only one inning when the remaining nail split horizontally and began bleeding.
That sent Sanchez back to the disabled list, but he experienced no issues during a 60-pitch outing in an extended spring training game on Tuesday, and the team hopes he’s finally ready to rejoin the rotation permanently.
“The area they cut, that’s healed up. And where it broke that last time going across, that’s healed up, too,” Gibbons said. “He’s good to go. We hope.”
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And, finally, according to Sportsnet’s Arash Madani, starter J.A. Happ has progressed to 120 feet in his throwing program as he recovers from inflammation in his left elbow. Happ last appeared in a game on April 16, when he left an outing after only 67 pitches due to discomfort in the elbow. The Blue Jays are hopeful Happ will begin throwing off a mound on Sunday or Monday, and if his rehabilitation continues without incident he could rejoin the Blue Jays in three weeks.
While the Blue Jays have been hit hard by injuries, their current situation speaks to a greater trend across baseball. Currently, there are 175 players on the major league disabled list, which is almost a quarter of the 750 major league roster spots available on any given day. The Blue Jays (nine players) are one of nine MLB teams with eight or more players on the DL. The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the way with 12.
Part of that is likely due to MLB altering its disabled list from 15 to 10 days this season, making it much more tantalizing for teams to utilize when it comes to players with minor injuries. But Gibbons still feels baseball is going through somewhat of an epidemic.
“[The 10-day DL] helped force some teams to do it when they otherwise wouldn’t. But that’s still way too many,” Gibbons said, when told how many players are on the DL across MLB. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
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