Angels hoping Ohtani ready to DH by May
TEMPE, ARIZ. >> The Los Angeles Angels hope Shohei Ohtani recovers from Tommy John surgery in time to join their batting order by May.
The AL Rookie of the Year had Tommy John surgery Oct. 1 to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The first player to hit 20 homers and make 10 pitching appearances in the same season since Babe Ruth, Ohtani is not expected to pitch this year but the Angels would like to have his bat in the lineup.
“We’re thinking May, sometime in May, but that’s assuming everything goes well,” new manager Brad Ausmus said Tuesday. “This is new territory. We’re dealing with a guy who DH’s on a regular basis and is a starting pitcher. It’s new territory in rehabbing a Tommy John surgery, and we want to protect him longterm being able to do both. If we have to push it back, we’ll push it back.”
Ohtani has been swinging without hitting a ball. He has yet to hit off a batting tee, Ausmus said.
Source: Marlins adding Posada to front office
MIAMI >> Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter are teammates again.
Posada will be joining the i Marlins’ front office as a special adviser to Jeter, said to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The person spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Posada’s hiring has not been publicly announced.
Jeter is entering his second season as the Marlins’ CEO.
Like Jeter, Posada spent his entire playing career with the Yankees. Posada has also primarily been a South Florida resident since retiring after the 2011 season.
Posada batted .273 with 275 home runs and 1,065 RBIs in parts of 17 seasons with the Yankees. He also was the batter when the Marlins recorded their final out to beat the Yankees in the 2003 World Series, hitting a soft grounder toward first base and being tagged out by pitcher Josh Beckett to end the game and give thenFlorida its second world championship.
Tanaka no fan of DH, wants to hit and run at NL ballparks
TAMPA, FLA. >> Masahiro Tanaka wants to keep on hitting and running the bases at NL ballparks, hoping use of the designated hitter does not spread to the National League.
The Yankees pitcher missed a month last season after hurting both hamstrings while running the bases during a June 8 game at the New York Mets.
The players’ association has proposed extending the DH to the NL, a plan baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says is too complex to consider for this year.
“I did get injured, but when you look at it I grew up where baseball was played by nine guys, meaning basically the pitcher would hit also, and I really enjoyed that baseball,” Tanaka said.
Epstein: Ricketts’ emails don’t reflect Cubs’ values
MESA, ARIZ. >> Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein criticized emails from the patriarch of the family that owns the team and said Addison Russell won’t play for Chicago again unless he meets the team’s high expectations while completing his domestic violence suspension.
Splinter News published emails last week that included Joe Ricketts making Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Others included conspiracies about former President Barack Obama’s birthplace and education.
Ricketts, who founded TD Ameritrade, apologized for the emails. Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts last week said in statement that his father’s emails don’t reflect the values of the Cubs.
“The emails were upsetting to read, and especially upsetting to think that some of our fans were put into a position where they had to consider their favorite team and some of those types of views,” Epstein said Tuesday.
Epstein said the emails were filled with “ugly, disgusting views.”
“When you play baseball and work in baseball, you are forced to understand and respect everyone’s different backgrounds. It’s been such a force of good to develop empathy,” Epstein said. “If you want to win in baseball, you have to embrace diversity fully, and being around people with different backgrounds has to help you understand people or you won’t last long in this game.”