Indians hopeful Ramirez will be ready for opening day

He hasn’t been given the green light just yet, but the Indians are optimistic that Jose Ramirez will be able to speed his way back into the lineup by opening day on Thursday.

Ramirez fouled a ball off his left knee in Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Chicago White Sox and was carted off the field. He was diagnosed with a contusion, and X-rays came back negative.

He is considered day-to-day and didn’t travel with the team to Texas for the final two spring training games. He will be traveling to Minnesota, though, and manager Terry Francona said on Monday that Ramirez took ground balls at the team’s facility in Goodyear, Arizona, a good sign for his potential opening-day prospects.

“He’s doing really well,” Francona said. “We tried to get ahead of it, and if he went out and was on the field today, (that is a) pretty good indicator he’s doing alright.”

Relative to how it looked when Ramirez was unable to get up Sunday and then had to be carted off, shaking his head as he left the field. It’s close to the bestpossible news for the Indians, who are already without Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis until at least April 4 — assuming Kipnis starts the season on the injured list as expected, although that hasn’t yet officially happened. That is the first day those two are eligible to return from the 10-day injured list after being backdated to March 25.

The Indians’ infield is already stretched thin, The Indians’ Jose Ramirez falls after hitting a ball off his left knee in a game Sunday against the White Sox. with the newly signed Brad Miller, Eric Stamets and Max Moroff left to handle the middleinfield duties for at least roughly the first week of the regular season.

Ramirez didn’t fly with the team to Texas, as the Indians’ medical staff wanted to ensure the bruise could have as much progress to heal as possible within the first 24 hours. The club will have a workout, which Ramirez is slated to attend, Wednesday in Minnesota.

Arizona names closer

Greg Holland was named the Arizona Diamondbacks’ closer.

Holland returned from Tommy John surgery and led the National League with 41 saves for Colorado in 2017. He was 2-2 with a 4.66 ERA with St. Louis and Washington last season, when he earned $14 million. He has a 2.83 ERA in eight major-league seasons and has reached 40 saves three times.

The 33-year-old right-hander agreed to a deal with the Diamondbacks on Jan. 31 that calls for a $3.25 million base salary and allows him to earn an additional $3.5 million in performance bonuses: $1 million for games and $2.5 million for games finished.

Parting gift

Dan Straily was released by the Miami Marlins, who will give the pitcher $1,209,677 in termination pay rather than his $5 million salary.

The 30-year-old right-hander was 15-15 in two seasons with the Marlins, who acquired him from Cincinnati in January 2017. He was limited to 23 starts last year, when he went on the disabled list twice because of forearm and oblique strains.

Straily is 42-36 with a 4.23 ERA in seven major-league seasons.