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Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson did not play on Saturday against the Boston Red Sox because of a thumb injury, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

However, he will return to the Blue Jays’ lineup on Sunday, according to Sportsnet.ca’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Donaldson was one of the best players in baseball in 2015. His 8.7 WAR was third-highest among qualified position players, and he took home the American League MVP Award for his efforts. The 30-year-old was a big reason the Blue Jays reached the American League Championship Series last year.

Since his first full season with the Oakland Athletics in 2013, Donaldson has been one of the most consistent sluggers in baseball. Here’s where his offensive numbers rank with the rest of the league between 2013 and 2015:

Donaldson didn’t wait to get going in 2016, either, hitting a three-run home run against the Tampa Bay Rays in the Blue Jays’ fourth game of the year:

Toronto dodged a bullet when the two-time All-Star hurt his leg in the same game. He only suffered a calf strain and didn’t miss any games. Thankfully for Toronto, this most recent injury proved to be minor as well.

Stats are courtesy of FanGraphs.

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New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira has an articular cartilage tear in his right knee, which could require surgery if the knee doesn’t respond to treatment. He left Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles and was placed on the disabled list Saturday.

Continue for updates.

Cashman Comments on Potential Surgery for Teixeira

Saturday, June 4

“The initial effort is going to try to be to treat it conservatively with rest, probably involving injections, and then see how he responds to that,” general manager Brian Cashman said in a phone call this morning, per Chad Jennings of LoHud.com. “If that doesn’t work, then you’re looking at a surgical procedure. If that’s the case, then his season is probably done.”

Teixeira Lands on DL

Saturday, June 4

The Yankees announced they placed Teixeira on the 15-day disabled list and “selected infielder Chris Parmelee from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.”

Jennings added, “The choice of [Parmelee] as the replacement, Cashman said, is based entirely on performance. Parmelee has a .787 OPS in Triple-A.”

Teixeira Struggling to Shake Injury Bug

Injuries have been a recurring problem for Teixeira over the last few years. He hasn’t appeared in more than 123 games in a season since 2011, though he had missed only six games so far this year.

The lingering ailments, and perhaps age, have sapped most of Teixeira’s value on offense. The 36-year-old owns a .180/.271/.263 slash line and three home runs in 167 at-bats this season.

The Yankees have options at first base. Rob Refsnyder filled in for Teixeira on Friday, and catcher Brian McCann has played 121.1 innings at the position since 2014.

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Baltimore Orioles pitcher Darren O’Day has suffered a right hamstring injury.

Continue for updates.

O’Day Placed on 15-Day DL

Friday, June 3

According to a report by CBS Baltimore, O’Day was placed on the 15-day disabled list in what is being described as a right hamstring strain.

MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko reported that O’Day will receive a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection in his right leg, and manager Buck Showalter is “cautiously optimistic” that he will be back in 15 days. 

This could have been a far more serious blow for Baltimore because O’Day has developed into one of the best setup pitchers in the league. The submariner has played for the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers and New York Mets in his career, but he’s shone over the past couple of seasons for the Orioles. 

Thus far, he is 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA and two saves this season with 25 strikeouts in 22 appearances.

O’Day agreed to new contract with the Orioles this offseason that was the richest in MLB history for a non-closing reliever at the time, per Matt Snyder of CBSSports.com. That came after O’Day made his first All-Star Game in 2015 and finished with a sparkling 1.52 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 82 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched.

According to ESPN.com, he posted a career-high 2.8 WAR as well, and it was the second consecutive year he tallied a sub-2.00 ERA for the Orioles (1.70 in 2014).

The Orioles still have Zach Britton at the end of the bullpen to shut the door on opponents, and they will likely turn to Brad Brach to shoulder more of the load while O’Day is out.

Still, there is a reason they committed to O’Day this offseason. If they are going to challenge the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League East, they need him back and healthy to anchor the bullpen alongside Britton.

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And now for a question that’s not as absurd as it should be.

Here’s the deal: The Boston Red Sox‘s offense has been really good in 2016. It’s scored 324 runs in 54 games, an average of 6.00 per contest. At that rate, it’ll finish with 972 runs. That’s only 28 runs shy of 1,000, a mark last reached by Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome and the rest of the 1999 Cleveland Indians.

That points to a non-zero chance that the 2016 Red Sox can make a spirited run at 1,000 runs. The real question, of course, is how much higher than zero their chances go.

Well, it says a lot that this isn’t a question of whether Boston’s offense looks legit. It does. For Exhibit A, I present Mookie Betts’ five dingers in a span of seven at-bats this week:

That’s numero uno on the list of offensive highlights the Red Sox have produced, and it didn’t even come from their best hitter.

Far from it, actually. Through the lens of wRC+ (weighted runs created plus), which measures offensive value in relation to league average (100), Betts is the fifth-best of Boston’s regulars behind David Ortiz, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia. Overall, seven regulars are performing better than average:

These seven players are driving the Red Sox’s league-leading .296 batting average, .360 on-base percentage and .494 slugging percentage. And with a collective wRC+ of 128, FanGraphs’ Owen Watson’s earlier observation that the 2016 Red Sox are outperforming the 1927 New York Yankees is holding true.

There are no Babe Ruths or Lou Gehrigs, but Boston’s lineup does feature a good mix. Ortiz, Pedroia and Hanley Ramirez are veterans with good-to-great track records. Bogaerts and Betts are former elite prospects who are now rising superstars. Bradley and Travis Shaw are less likely suspects, but they are picking up where they left off in the second half of 2015.

As Ortiz told Matt Snyder of CBS Sports:

Opponents, the way they look at it, it’s like, “Let’s take care of the big guy,” but right now, the hitting is contagious. I really believe that I’m doing well — better than ever — because everyone is doing well. You don’t have to focus on David Ortiz, everyone is doing unbelievable. The way everyone is going, that makes my life easier.

This isn’t so much an offense that can hit as it is an offense that can do everything. Looking at the key foundations of run-scoring, the Red Sox are:

• Top-15 in MLB in walk percentage
• Bottom-10 in MLB in strikeout percentage
• No. 1 in MLB in isolated power
• Top-10 in MLB in baserunning value

This is an offense that works counts, puts the ball in play, hits the ball hard and runs the bases well. If you can imagine a cross between a typical Moneyball-style Red Sox offense and the recent hit-and-run offenses of the Kansas City Royals, you get the 2016 Red Sox.

The circumstances around the Red Sox’s offense, meanwhile, are just as encouraging.

The Red Sox play half their games at Fenway Park, which ESPN.com’s park factors confirm as a good place to hit. The American League East is home to two more of those: Yankee Stadium and Rogers Centre.

Elsewhere, the league as a whole is further escaping the recent dominance of pitching. The increase in walks could be due to pressure on umpires from on high. As for the increased power, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports isn’t alone in wondering whether the ball is juiced.

All told, the overwhelming excellence of Boston’s offense doesn’t feel like a fluke. It’s a case of real talent at the right place at the right time. Hence, all the runs.

But…

Optimism about the Red Sox’s chances of scoring 1,000 runs only goes so far before snapping back to one reality: As good as they’ve been, they’re still not on pace to get there. They need to score 676 runs in their remaining 108 games to make the cut. That’s 6.26 runs per game.

Asking an offense that’s already averaging 6.00 runs per game to add an extra 0.26 runs per game may not seem like a big deal. But that comes down to which individuals can actually do better. The issue there is that the majority of Boston’s regulars are already outpacing their recent history.

Here’s a comparison of their 2016 wRC+ numbers to the previous season:

Note: “Previous” means 2015 for everyone except Christian Vazquez, who was injured all year after breaking through in 2014.

It’s true that a performance in one season isn’t terribly predictive of a performance the next season. And in the cases of Boston’s young stars—Bradley, Bogaerts, Betts and Shaw—it’s fair to wonder if their performance spikes were inevitable.

But at the same time, asking those four guys to do even better is asking a lot. It’s asking even more of Big Papi, whose age-40 season is shaping up to be the best season of his career. Pedroia is also making a run at a career-best season.

Ramirez is the one guy who stands out as a candidate to do more. He does have a career 128 wRC+, after all, and it was only three years ago that he was one of baseball’s best hitters.

If Ramirez catches fire while the hot hitters stay hot, the Red Sox could be on to something. If Vazquez, Brock Holt and/or Blake Swihart, Holt’s injury replacement, also pick it up, 1,000 runs will look less like a pie in the sky and more like a pie on a windowsill.

But this is a stretch.

Ramirez has mostly been mediocre over the last six seasons, and he’s now at an age (32) that makes it hard to count on him to snap out of it. Vazquez isn’t a regular because of his bat. Holt’s slow start is really an extended slump that dates back to last summer. Swihart has a good hit tool, but his modest power puts a natural cap on how high his offensive influence can go.

Boston’s farm system probably can’t help either. Yoan Moncada and Rafael Devers are exciting prospects, but they’ve only advanced as far as High-A Salem. Andrew Benintendi escaped Salem with a hot start but is now being humbled at Double-A Portland.

Maybe the Red Sox could trade one or two of those guys for an extra impact bat. But since it’s pitching they need most, don’t count on it.

The Red Sox still have a non-zero chance of making it to 1,000 runs. There’s a non-zero chance of literally anything happening in baseball, and this is indeed an offense worthy of the pursuit.

What’s more likely, though, is that this offense trends in the opposite direction. A whole bunch of guys all having career years at once is a cool thing to watch but a hard thing to sustain.

Still, at least the Red Sox gave us an excuse to have this conversation. It may be absurd, but it’s also pretty cool.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked and are current through Wednesday, June 1.

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The Toronto Blue Jays (28-26) can even their home record and complete a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees (24-27) with a victory in the series finale Wednesday at the Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays have won the past four meetings with the Yankees and taken six of seven overall, and they are listed as -115 betting favorites (bet $115 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark with Aaron Sanchez (4-1, 3.29 ERA) on the hill for his 11th start of the season.

Toronto has won five of the last six games Sanchez has started, and he’s gone 3-0 with three no-decisions. He has allowed three runs or fewer five times during that stretch and has gone a full seven innings four times.

The Blue Jays have scored 22 runs in his previous three games, with the over cashing each time after a run of six unders in his first seven, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database.

Meanwhile, New York will send ace Masahiro Tanaka (3-0, 2.89) to the mound looking to win for the fifth time in as many starts. He has earned two of his wins in his past two outings, giving up one run and seven hits combined over 14 innings with two walks and eight strikeouts.

The Yankees are 7-2 in his last nine starts, with the under going 7-2.

This is a rematch of a meeting between the two starting pitchers from April 12, when New York edged Toronto 3-2 on a run-scoring single by outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury in the seventh inning.

Sanchez pitched well but surrendered the game-tying homer to catcher Brian McCann in the sixth, leaving after allowing three hits and one earned run with three walks and six strikeouts. Tanaka lasted five innings, giving up three hits and two runs with four walks and six strikeouts. Neither starter walked away with a decision.

The under cashed in that game and has gone 9-3 in the past 12 meetings. Only one of the last six games between the teams has seen more than six runs scored. The under is also 7-3 in the previous 10 for the Blue Jays overall and 5-1 in the last six for the Yanks.

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Fact: Mookie Betts (23) became the fourth-youngest Boston Red Sox player dating back to at least 1913* to hit three home runs in a game. Joe Lahoud (22), Jim Tabor (22) and Fred Lynn (23) are the only players to do so at a younger age.

*Data available to B/R only goes back to 1913.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: B/R Insights

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MLB released its first round of All-Star Game voting results Tuesday, and two Boston Red Sox players are leading at their respective positions.

Mookie Betts isn’t one of them.

In fact, while shortstop Xander Bogaerts and designated hitter David Ortiz are on pace to start the Midsummer Classic, Betts ranked seventh among American League outfielders, per MLB Communications.

Betts also landed more than 150,000 votes shy of teammate Jackie Bradley Jr., who finished fourth in AL outfield balloting.

Maybe that had nothing to do with Betts’ three-homer outburst Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Then again, maybe it did. A little friendly competition, after all, can be an effective motivator.

Either way, Betts became the first Red Sox leadoff hitter since 1913 to hit a trio of home runs in a single game, as Sportsnet Stats noted. And his five RBI, which matched a career high, proved to be the difference in a 6-2 Boston win.

He also flashed some ludicrous leather with a diving catch in the seventh, as Joon Lee of the Washington Post highlighted:

Betts now has 12 home runs in 52 games after hitting 18 in 145 games last year and 23 in his first 197 big league contests.

Not to take anything away from Bradley, Bogaerts or Ortiz, but Betts’ power explosion is expanding his already-enviable upside and teasing limitless potential.

Last season, the 2011 fifth-round pick hit .291 with 21 stolen bases, flashed some pop and led Boston with 6.0 wins above replacement. 

We knew he was good coming into 2016. In January, ESPN The Magazine‘s Buster Olney highlighted him as an under-the-radar MVP candidate:

Here’s how Ortiz assessed his young colleague, per Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe:

Oh, man. He has five tools and he’s smart. It’s all on him. I really believe that he’s getting to that point where he understands what he needs to do. He works extremely hard. He’s got great hands. He knows about the strike zone real well. He knows that the minute he gets out of it—like we always talk about—it can get you in trouble. He tries to stick with the plan. Being so young, it’s just impressive the way he handles his business. 

Still, none of the projection systems were particularly bullish on Betts’ fence-clearing abilities. ZiPS foretold the most home runs, per FanGraphs, with a modest 14. 

At this rate, Betts could vault past that in the first week of June.

It’s possible this early surge will level off. Betts never hit more than 15 homers in a season in the minors.

Then again, he’s still just 23 years old, with his prime far on the horizon. Red Sox fans are permitted to dream big.

Like, say, a 30-30 season? It’s not out of the question.

In March, MLB.com’s Andrew Simon highlighted Betts as a possible 30-30 candidate, though he noted Betts had “a large power gap to close.”

So far, he’s closing it.

Entering play on Tuesday, Betts’ home runs had traveled an average “true distance” of 381.7 feet, well below the MLB average of 399.5 feet, according to ESPN’s Home Run Tracker.  

But none of Betts’ home runs on Tuesday were cheap. In the first, he blasted one high over the 410-foot marker in center field at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. In the second, he hooked a three-run homer inside the left-field foul pole. And in the seventh, he cracked a solo shot deep into the seats in right.

He’s passing the eyeball test, in other words, in addition to stuffing the stat sheet. 

The 26-year-old Bradley recently reeled off a 29-game hitting streak and owns a 1.010 OPS. The 23-year-old Bogaerts extended his own hitting streak to 24 games Tuesday. And Ortiz, the 40-year-old ageless wonder, is hitting .335 with a team-leading 14 homers in his supposed farewell season.

There’s plenty to cheer about in Beantown as the Red Sox look to reverse course after two straight last-place finishes and climb back onto the October stage.

Put Betts at the top of the cheer-o-meter. And if he keeps bashing baseballs where no one can catch them, put him among the ranks of rising All-Star candidates.

The voting, after all, is just getting started.

And so, apparently, is Betts.

All statistics current as of May 31 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Toronto Blue Jays announced Tuesday they acquired right-handed reliever Jason Grilli in a trade with the Atlanta Braves, who received right-handed pitching prospect Sean Ratcliffe in return. 

Toronto also received cash considerations in the deal that shipped its 18th-round pick in 2013 to Atlanta.

The 39-year-old Grilli appeared in 21 games for the Braves this season in his second year with the organization, and Toronto will be his ninth team in his 14-year career. The veteran recorded a career-high 33 saves in 2013 in an All-Star campaign. 

Grilli has been a proficient reliever since his second season with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012, when his strikeout-to-walk ratio jumped from 2.47 in 2011 to 4.09, per FanGraphs. The following season, he struck out 74 batters while walking only 13.

Grilli has struggled so far this year, striking out 23 batters and walking 13 while playing on a 15-win ballclub in Atlanta. Now he’ll get the chance to play for the reigning American League East champions.

The Blue Jays are five games back of the Boston Red Sox in the division coming into Tuesday, and Grilli should provide some immediate bullpen help. Toronto has a bullpen ERA of 3.89, which is 16th-best in the major leagues.

Toronto could use Grilli as a setup man for Roberto Osuna, who has 11 saves and an ERA of only 1.17 up to this point. Bob Mackowycz of TSN Radio doesn’t think the Blue Jays aren’t getting the Grilli of years past, however:

There’s enough time for the Blue Jays to make a charge at the Red Sox. But as powerful and talented as their offense is, they need pitching help. Grilli may be getting older, but he’ll provide plenty of experience for a young pitching staff.

Stats from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.   

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In a wide-ranging interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Tom Verducci, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista discussed not only his altercation with Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor but also his future north of the border. 

Bautista earned a one-game suspension for his role in the brawl with Odor. He argued Odor intended to stir the pot when the Rangers and Blue Jays closed out their three-game series May 15, per SI Wire: “Was [Odor] out to play baseball that day? Maybe partly. Part of me also thinks that he was looking for a fight.”

The six-time All-Star also contended Odor attempted to hit him in the face as he slid into second base.  Whether intentional or not, Odor’s throw to first came dangerously close to Bautista face. A good look at the throw begins at the 5:47 mark of the video below:

Bautista also told Verducci he believes the Rangers infielder has used a similar tactic before. He didn’t mention a specific incident, but Odor narrowly missed Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin to complete a double play in Game 2 of the 2015 ALDS:

Although the two teams aren’t set to meet again this year, the animosity between the Blue Jays and Rangers will likely carry over to whenever they step back on the field together again.

Bautista may not be there to see it, though. The 35-year-old is set to be a free agent at the end of the 2016 season. He told Verducci he enjoys being in Toronto and that “[he’d] be stupid to leave,” but he added he won’t let emotions come into play as he makes a decision about his future, per SI Wire:

I will explore every single option, whether it happens or not with the new regime, to continue to try to stay here. That being said, I think teams utilize [the hometown discount] a lot against players, [seeking] a discount or bargain price, and I think that’s extremely unfair, especially to have your biggest contributors on the field and try to take advantage of the fact that they like it there and negotiate a tougher deal.

As much as Bautista has done for the organization, the Blue Jays will have a tough decision regarding his next contract. He’s no longer in his prime playing years, and the team has to consider the fact Edwin Encarnacion will hit free agency as well at the end of the year. In addition, Josh Donaldson is eligible for arbitration in 2018 and will be in line for a massive extension down the road.

The Blue Jays let David Price walk last offseason, and they could do the same with Bautista should his asking price be too much for their tastes.

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New York Yankees first baseman Dustin Ackley will miss the season and undergo surgery on a torn labrum suffered on May 29. 

Continue for updates.

Surgery on the Horizon for Ackley

Tuesday, May 31

Manager Joe Girardi said Ackley will have surgery to repair his torn labrum, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Ackley Struggling in First Season With Yankees

Ackley has played 28 games this year and has batted .148 in his first full season in pinstripes.

Ackley played only seven games in April and recorded one hit in that span. His struggles continued into May, as he’s batting .178 and has driven in only four runs.

He suffered the shoulder injury Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays while sliding. New York has called up infielder Rob Refsnyder to take Ackley’s place and put Ackley on the 15-day disabled list for the time being, per George A. King III of the New York Post.

The Yankees (24-25) came into Monday sitting in fourth place in the American League East, and their offense has been a collective disappointment. New York has scored 190 runs so far this season, sixth-worst in the major leagues.

Stats from Baseball-Reference.com.

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