DUNEDIN, Fla. – Troy Tulowitzki is expected to participate in spring training as usual, but the shortstop’s dealing with a chronic bone spur on his right heel, the Toronto Blue Jays revealed Thursday.
Tulowitzki’s 2017 season ended with a right ankle sprain, and though the ankle’s progressing well, he aggravated a previously existing bone spur while conditioning afterwards. The Blue Jays will treat the injury conservatively this spring, but no surgery is expected.
"It flared up on him. No big deal," manager John Gibbons said. "He should be good to go when he gets here. The ankle feels great."
The 33-year-old appeared in 66 games last year, posting a .678 OPS with seven home runs. Before his season ended on July 28, he missed part of April and most of May due to a hamstring strain.
Meanwhile, Devon Travis has been moving around well as he recovers from last summer’s right knee operation, according to Gibbons. Even so, the Blue Jays expect to ease Travis into games this spring.
"When you look at his history the last couple years, we’re going to have to keep an eye on him," Gibbons said. "How many games he plays, maybe we have to get on a program where he plays X number of days per week just to get him rested, just to get six months out of him. If we can do that we’ll feel pretty good."
Because of the ongoing questions surrounding Tulowitzki and Travis, the Blue Jays added shortstop Aledmys Diaz and utility player Yangervis Solarte over the winter.
"We feel good about the depth," Gibbons said. "We addressed that pretty good."
[relatedlinks]
