RANGERS’ SEAGER OUT A FEW WEEKS
World Series MVP Corey Seager had surgery Tuesday for a left sports hernia repair and the Texas Rangers AllStar shortstop will miss most of spring training.
General Manager Chris Young said Seager had the surgery in Arizona, where the team holds spring training, and will remain there for rehabilitation. The Rangers are hopeful Seager will be ready by opening day.
“I’m not going to commit to a hard timeline,” Young said. “The hope is that by the end of spring, he’ll have resumed baseball activity and will be pretty close to full speed at that point.”
Young said the hernia issue came up during the postseason, when Seager was getting some minor treatment in the training room, but it didn’t impact his play as Rangers won their first World Series title.
Even after extended rest following the season, Seager felt effects of the hernia through offseason workouts. Young said Seager and the team opted for surgery.
Seager hit .318 with six homers and 12 RBIs, along with 15 walks, in their 17 postseason games. He homered three times in the World Series, including a tying drive in the ninth inning of the opener.
In the regular season, the second of his $325 million, 10year contract with Texas, Seager hit .327 with a leaguebest 42 doubles, 33 homers and 96 RBIs in 119 games.
Orioles sold
The Angelos family has reached an agreement to sell the Orioles to private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, according to the Baltimore Sun. Rubenstein is set to take over as the team’s control person as part of the deal, which values the team at $1.725 billion.
The Angelos family has owned the team since Peter Angelos bought it for $173 million in 1993. Legal documents from 2022 revealed that the longtime owner wished for the team to be sold following his death so his wife, Georgia, “could enjoy the great wealth they had amassed together.” His elder son, John, has been the team’s control person since 2020.
Rubenstein is a Baltimore
native, philanthropist and founder of the Carlyle Group. Puck News, which was the first to report the sale on Tuesday evening, said he will initially assume a 40 percent ownership stake in the Orioles, with an agreement to purchase the remaining equity upon the death of family patriarch Peter Angelos.
Turner to Jays
Veteran infielder Justin Turner and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a $13 million, one-year contract, the team announced.
The 39-year-old Turner hit .276 with 23 homers, 96 RBIs and an .800 OPS last season for the Boston Red Sox. The two-time All-Star spent the previous nine seasons with the Dodgers.
Toronto has been eager to add offense to a team that struggled to score last season. He was a designated hitter 98 times last year and appeared 41 times in the infield.
Notable
Although he’s never gone through the process before,
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doesn’t seem too unsettled about the possibility of his 2024 salary being decided by a three-person arbitration panel.
That’s probably because whether Guerrero wins or loses, the Blue Jays slugger stands to set a record for the highest salary ever awarded in arbitration.
Guerrero has asked for $19.9 million and been offered $18.05 million, meaning he’s guaranteed to top the $14 million former Toronto teammate Teoscar Hernández received from Seattle after Hernández lost his hearing last year.
“I feel very happy,” Guerrero said through a translator.
The Royals finalized a $4.5 million, one-year contract with Adam Frazier, rounding out a vastly overhauled club by adding a lefthanded bat and some versatility to their lineup.
He will make $2 million this season as part of a deal that includes an $8.5 million mutual option for 2025 with a $2.5 million buyout.
Joc Pederson and the National League champion D-backs finalized a $9.5 million, one-year contract that includes a mutual option for 2025. The sides agreed to financial terms last week.
Adam Ottavino and the Mets finalized a $4.5 million, one-year contract that keeps the veteran reliever with his hometown team.