Pujols has foot surgery
Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols is recovering after having surgery to repair the plantar plate in his right foot. The team announced Monday that Pujols is expected to resume full baseball activities in 4 ½ months, which would be late in spring training. The surgery was last week in Charlotte, N. C. New Angels General Manager Billy Eppler said Pujols will spend the winter rehabilitating in the Kansas City area. The 35- year- old first baseman hit .244 with 40 home runs and 95 RBI this season and made the All- Star team. He reached the 40- home run mark for the seventh time overall and first since 2010, when he played for St. Louis. Pujols spent most of the final month of the season as the designated hitter while slowed by a toe problem.
The Minnesota Twins have won the bidding for negotiating rights to slugger Byung Ho Park, a 29- year- old first baseman who hit 105 home runs over the past two seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization. Major League Baseball announced Monday the notice from Park’s team in the KBO, the Nexen Heroes, that Minnesota’s bid was the highest. The posting fee was not disclosed by either MLB or the Twins, who said they wouldn’t comment on the process “out of respect” for Park and the Heroes. Per MLB rules, the Twins have a 30- day exclusive negotiating period to sign Park to a contract. In the interim, Park will remain under control of the Heroes.
The Washington Nationals and Houston Astros are on the way to sharing a new spring training site in 2017. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was in attendance Monday at a ground breaking ceremony for the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. When the $ 144 million complex opens, it will end an 18- year absence of spring training baseball in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos left the area in 1997. The Nationals currently train up the Florida coast in Viera, more than an hour from any other team. The Astros are now at a site in the Kissimmee region.
New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson will miss the annual GM meetings to undergo an unspecified medical procedure, a week after fainting during a news conference at Citi Field in New York. Mets assistant general manager John Ricco made the announcement Monday at the start of the four- day session. Ricco said Alderson did not want to make public the details. Ricco adds the procedure originally was scheduled for earlier during the team’s postseason run but was delayed when the team reached the World Series. Ricco said, “I don’t want to portray it, though, as something extremely urgent about it.” New York will be represented at the meetings by Ricco, vice president of player development and amateur scouting Paul DePodesta and special assistant to GM J. P. Ricciardi.