LeMahieu is healthy and in a big spot
ton patrolled center field for the Twins for the first time in 554 days. His body feeling good for the first time in two years, there’s been plenty of fun experienced by Buxton early in camp. After batting .207 with 17 home runs, 42 RBI and a .731 OPS in 304 plate appearances last season, Buxton said he’s 100% healthy after doctors removed the plica tissue last October, eliminating the pain he likened to a knife stabbing his kneecap.
New York: The oldest player in camp at age 35, third baseman DJ LeMahieu is being counted upon as much as ever, asked to lead off the Yankees’ most balanced and potentially dangerous lineup in years. The effects of a 2022 right big toe injury – a fractured sesamoid bone, and ligament damage to his second toe – might have impacted LeMahieu’s first half of 2023. After the All-Star Game, LeMahieu posted a .809 OPS and he entered his first winter since 2020 fully healthy. From the start of camp, manager Aaron Boone has raved about LeMahieu’s condition. “Physically where he is, it’s really exciting,’’ Boone said recently. For a player with batting titles in each league, the last during the shortened 2020 pandemic season (.364 in 50 games), LeMahieu’s swing seemed compromised by physical ailments. Since the 2021 season, LeMahieu has batted .258 with a .720 OPS. “Whatever struggles he’s had at different times over the last couple years … they’ve been physical in nature,’’ said Boone. “He’s in as good a place as he’s been in the last couple of years.’’
Oakland: After a short stint where fans were unsure of the Athletics’ future in Las Vegas, team president Dave Kaval’s plan to move to the city is back in place. The team’s new stadium should be ready for the A’s in 2028. That leaves four seasons left for the Athletics before they can leave town. However, their departure from Oakland might be more complicated than that. The A’s lease with Oakland Coliseum ends following the 2024 MLB season. While most fans have been waiting for this day for years, the A’s unfortunately don’t have anywhere to go afterward. Between 2025 and 2027, not even the A’s know where they will play. On Feb. 8, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters that the A’s need to know where they will be playing in 2025 by the summer. On Feb. 24, A’s fans held their own fanfest (nicknamed “Fans Fest” as the team itself had nothing to do with the celebration), not only as a means to support their home team, but as a giant statement to the team’s ownership. The fanfest drew a massive crowd, with even the mayor of Oakland, Sheng Thao, showing up. During the festival, Thao made it clear that she wants the team to stay in Oakland. Thao remained a realist though, accepting that the A’s were going to Vegas no matter how much the fans and herself begged and pleaded. Fans are already preparing a boycott of the team’s home opener, March 28, against the Cleveland Guardians, where fans fill up the team’s parking lot with tailgates but never go inside.
Seattle: Former major league second baseman Robinson Canó has signed with the Diablos Rojos of the Mexican Baseball League, the Mexico City club announced last week. The 41-year-old Canó finished with 1,306 RBI, fourth all time among second baseman, in a 17-year career, most of which he spent with the Yankees and Mariners. The eight-time All-Star also played for the Mets and Padres and last played in the big leagues in 2022, with Atlanta. The Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) did not disclose the terms of the contract.
Texas: Three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, who is sidelined until June recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back, was provided permission from the Rangers to spend time at home in Jupiter, Florida, during stretches this spring. Even without the injury, Scherzer had a clause in his contract that he could be home during intervals in spring training when he approved a trade from the Mets to the Rangers last summer . ... Manager Bruce Bochy made his first appearance at Scottsdale Stadium wearing a uniform other than that of the Giants since 2006. “I didn’t get lost coming here, I’ll say that,’’ said Bochy, who wound up entering through the stands with two of his coaches. “Great memories. “I mean, [Brandon] Belt could have a statue here for what he did in spring training. And my first year, I’ll never forget the first two fly balls hit to [Barry] Bonds, he didn’t draw leather on them. I said, ‘Oh, geez.’ And [Tim] Lincecum, too. Even before he pitched for me, he’s warming up, and [pitching coach Dave Righetti] goes, ‘There’s your No. 1 pick.’ I looked out there, and I say, ‘There’s no way.’ He weighed about 140 pounds. Then, I saw that arm action, and I said, ‘Whoa!’ ” Bochy, who won three
World Series titles, received a huge ovation when introduced to the crowd.
Tampa Bay: Outfielder Randy Arozarena blew up, figuratively, in the 2020 offseason when he crushed 12 home runs in an 18-game postseason stretch, driving the Rays to Game 6 of the World Series in the pandemic bubble. Arozarena’s spot blew up further after an epic performance for Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In the year since, he has been name-dropped in a Bad Bunny verse and hung out backstage with hiphop artist Travis Scott, who assumed Arozarena’s arms-folded pose for the camera. “We have been working on something,” says Arozarena of Scott. “I can’t say.” Manager Kevin Cash calls Arozarena “a model of consistency.” And Arozarena can remember when he was a seldom-used St. Louis Cardinals outfielder swapped for pitcher Matthew Liberatore after the 2019 season. He now has three 20-homer seasons, a Rookie of the Year honor and All-Star nod to his credit. “All I wanted to do was have success in the big leagues. That was the ultimate goal,” Arozarena says through a translator. “I didn’t plan any of this. I didn’t expect any of it. It’s all still kind of new to me as it comes out.”
Toronto: Josh Donaldson says he’s retiring after a 13-year career. The 38year-old announced his plans March 4
during an appearance on “The Mayor’s Office,” a podcast hosted by former major league first baseman Sean Casey. Donaldson is a free agent after splitting last season between the Yankees and Milwaukee. “It’s sad because I’ll be not able to go out there and play the game that I love anymore, but it’s also a very happy time that I get to be around the family and kind of take that next chapter in life,” said Donaldson, who noted that he got married during the offseason. Donaldson was among the top third basemen from 2013-17 with Oakland and Toronto. During his 2015 AL MVP season, Donaldson hit .297 with 41 homers and an ALleading 123 RBI. Donaldson also led the AL in total bases (352) and topped the majors in runs (122) that season while helping the Blue Jays reach the AL Championship Series, where they lost to Kansas City. After injuries limited him to 113 games in 2017 and 52 games in 2018, Donaldson signed a $23 million, oneyear contract with Atlanta and was 11th in the NL MVP voting after batting .259 with a .379 on-base percentage, 37 homers and 94 RBI. He signed a $92 million, four-year contract with Minnesota at age 34 but his play tailed off.