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The Los Angeles Angels announced Wednesday they placed starting pitcher Andrew Heaney on the 15-day disabled list with a left flexor muscle strain.

Continue for updates.

Heaney‘s Injury Adds to Angels’ Injury Woes

Wednesday, April 6

Heaney is one day removed from pitching six innings in a 6-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. The left-hander allowed four earned runs on seven hits and struck out seven.

The team revealed the 24-year-old “complained of tightness in his left forearm,” per Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. The Orange County Register‘s Jeff Fletcher is worried the injury might be the start of a larger problem:

According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the issue may not prove to be serious:

Heaney joins fellow left-hander C.J. Wilson, who’s dealing with a sore shoulder, on the DL. The Los Angeles Times‘ Mike DiGiovanna is worried about what Heaney‘s absence will do to the team:

According to Baseball Prospectus, PECOTA projects Los Angeles to be the worst team in the American League West, and it isn’t hard to see why. The front office has failed to surround Mike Trout with a competent supporting cast or build a strong rotation.

The Angels can ill afford to lose a starting pitcher, especially one of Heaney‘s caliber. Beyond he and Garrett Richards, their rotation is extremely shaky, even with Jered Weaver likely to return by the end of the week, per Gonzalez.

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Oakland Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is suffering from food poisoning and was unable to make Monday’s Opening Day start against the Chicago White Sox. Rich Hill started in Gray’s place. However, he’s ready to return.

Continue for updates.  

Gray Will Start vs. White Sox

Tuesday, April 5

Gray said he will be on the mound Wednesday against Chicago, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gray Is Dominant Force at Top of Oakland’s Rotation

Gray will resume his role as the ace of Oakland’s rotation and gives the A’s their best opportunity to win every fifth day. The 26-year-old is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and is likely just hitting his prime as a legitimate force for Oakland.

Gray was a first-time All-Star in 2015 and finished with a 2.73 ERA, 169 strikeouts and a 5.8 WAR. He also wound up third in the American League Cy Young voting, trailing only Houston’s Dallas Keuchel and David Price of the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays. 

The Athletics face an uphill challenge to reach the postseason in the difficult American League West this season, even with Gray anchoring the rotation. 

All statistics via Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Houston Astros have Dallas Keuchel, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner. And they have Carlos Correa, who just added an AL Rookie of the Year trophy to his case.

If you’re searching for reasons to be excited about the 2016 ‘Stros, in other words, you don’t have to look far.

There’s another Astros player, however, who could grab the wheel and steer the club’s fortunes next season. And he appears poised for a genuine breakout campaign.

In some ways, George Springer already broke out in 2015. The slugging outfielder and 2011 first-round pick hit .276 with 16 home runs and 16 stolen bases. But he also missed two months with a broken wrist and wound up playing just 102 games.

Springer, who turned 26 in September, is dangling on the edge of stardom. He has the tools. And he has the admiration of his teammates.

“He’s our spark plug,” said Keuchel, per MLB.com’s Richard Justice. “He comes to the park every day with a smile on his face.” 

The entire Houston franchise should be grinning. After entering last season as a presumed up-and-coming also-ran, the Astros led the AL West most of the way before claiming a wild-card slot and pushing the eventual champion Kansas City Royals to five games in the division series.

Now, the ‘Stros are nominal favorites in the West, neck-and-neck with the Lone Star State-rival Texas Rangers. A healthy, full-throttle Springer could push them over the top.

Full throttle, seemingly, is the only way Springer knows how to roll. 

“I try to copy the way he plays,” All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve said, per Justice. “He has one speed—100 mph.”

This is the part where we embed a defensive highlight that shows Springer giving up his body and wielding a glove made of Krazy Glue. Tellingly, there are many to choose from, but this one’s plenty instructive: 

Marry that with plus speed and legit, game-changing pop, and you’ve got all the elements of a rising star ready to flash across the MLB firmament.

As FanGraphs’ Brad Johnson put it, “Alfonso Soriano with more walks (and fewer steals) is one possible outcome.” 

Can you say tantalizing?

Sure, the injury questions will linger until Springer lasts a full season. And while he reduced his strikeouts in 2015, he still whiffed 223 times in his first 180 big league games. 

You can poke holes in any player’s resume, though. Even five-tool studs have their weak spots.

If you want to pivot back to optimism, here’s the evidence, courtesy of Sports Illustrated‘s Michael Beller:

He cut his o-swing percentage—which measures the rate at which a player swings at pitches outside the strike zone—from 26.7% to 23.1%. Unsurprisingly, his contact rate surged to 69.5%, an increase of nearly 10 percentage points, while his whiff rate dropped from 18.6% to 13.9%. Springer struck out in exactly one-third of his plate appearances as a rookie, but that K-rate plummeted to 24.2% last year. That goes a long way toward explaining his 45-point jump in batting average and 31-point climb in OBP.

Or just look at the way Springer finished last season.

In the final 10 games of 2015, while Houston was scratching and clawing for a playoff berth, Springer went 18-for-46. And he doubled and homered in the division series against Kansas City.

As Opening Day approaches, much of our focus is trained on the impressive 2015 rookie class, a loaded group that includes Correa, Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor, Maikel Franco—the list of stellar sophomores goes on.

Springer, who debuted in 2014 but has a scant 683 MLB at-bats to his name, might outpace them all. 

Playing his home games at Minute Maid Park, the ninth-most homer-happy yard in baseball, according to ESPN’s Park Factors, doesn’t hurt. Nor does taking his hacks in the midst of a balanced, potent lineup.

The bottom line, however, is that Springer is a specimen. A missile ready to launch. 

“We talk a lot about the type of athletes we’ve got,” Houston skipper A.J. Hinch said, per David Borges of the New Haven Register. “I don’t know that we’ve got a better combination of power and speed and athleticism than George.”

If you’re searching for reasons to be excited about the 2016 ‘Stros, toss a dart and take your pick. If you’re searching for under-the-radar stars in the making, don’t overlook Springer.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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Tommy John surgery has become as much a brand name as Band-Aid, Kleenex or Coke. We accept the once-experimental surgery as a surefire remedy to fix a pitcher’s arm.

So it’s understandable why after a year off and having undergone Tommy John surgery, Yu Darvish is facing high expectations from the Rangers. After all, the Rangers won the American League West in 2015 without Darvish, who flashed ace-like stuff in 2013 and 2014 with ERAs of 2.83 and 3.06, respectively.

Now pairing him with Cole Hamels, another ace, makes Darvish the juggernaut in the American League playoff picture.

Darvish is on a standard 14-month recovery from the surgery, which wouldn’t put him in the Rangers lineup until mid-May or June—depending on how many minor league starts he needed to stretch out. Literally, each week in the recovery from Tommy John surgery is planned out because so many pitchers undergo the procedure each year.

But that process has also restricted Darvish from facing any batters during spring training—he has only thrown bullpen sessions and very carefully increased his pitch count.

A Dallas Morning News blog post from Evan Grant says that pitching coach Doug Brocail told him that Darvish would need to throw between 50 and 55 pitches before throwing to a batter.

Darvish’s latest bullpen session went 31 pitches, according to the post.

But Darvish’s start date really doesn’t matter. Whether mid-May or June, when he finally returns to the Rangers, it will be as if a team loaded with playoff-caliber talent had pulled off a blockbuster trade.

Of course, the Rangers would rather have Darvish on Opening Day. Still, given the situation, no other playoff contender will add a player of Darvish’s caliber that early in the year.

It could certainly help to spark Texas regardless of where the team sits in the standings upon his return.

When news first broke in spring training of last season that Darvish had torn a ligament in his elbow and would need surgery, many dismissed the Rangers’ playoff chances. But as it ended up, Texas won the American League West—helped by a midseason trade for Hamels.

Now the team adds another pitcher with ace-like stuff.

The Astros are rightfully the favorite to win the division with a group of talented position players and arguably the division’s best pitcher in Dallas Keuchel. But the Rangers have the division’s best starting pitching tandem in Hamels and Darvish.

Darvish is more than just a “Robin,” though.

The American League West is loaded with talented aces—Oakland’s Sonny Gray, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez and the aforementioned Keuchel and Hamels. But Darvish’s past seasons have earned him the right to be mentioned among them.

Like each of his four division counterparts, Darvish too has posted an ERA in the coveted twos. There’s no caveat needed. This statement doesn’t need to be hedged: The Rangers have two aces on their staff.

Never has there been a time in the American League where pitching has been more important.

Regardless of whether teams added to their starting rotations or bullpens, we saw an emphasis this offseason on playoff contenders adding depth to their pitching staffs. It was an offseason in which the pitching contracts were much higher than that of hitters.

Just look at the seven-year, $217 million contract David Price signed with Boston at 30 years old, while Jason Heyward—said to be the prize among position fielders this offseason—signed an eight-year deal worth $184 million at only 26 years old.

Pitching matters. We saw the Red Sox add Price, but also dynamic closer Craig Kimbrel. The Yankees traded for Aroldis Chapman, which gives them one of baseball’s best bullpens. The Orioles signed starter Yovani Gallardo.

Obviously, Darvish was not a free agent this offseason. But he can have the same impact as a quasi addition.

Predicting Darvish’s impact on the 2016 Rangers is as easy as looking at his past performance. Sure, he had a complicated surgery with a long recovery. But so many have successfully returned from Tommy John surgery.

Kerry Wood and John Smoltz had the surgery and pitched successfully as relievers. Tim Hudson also underwent the procedure and continued to be a solid starter for the Braves.

A little Googling reveals that David Wells also had Tommy John surgery as a minor leaguer. And that was in 1985! The procedure and its recovery methods have advanced in the 30 years since.

The Rangers are staking their season in that history.

For Darvish, he may return to the Rangers with a newly constructed arm. But it’s the player of old whose right arm will certainly be felt throughout the American League playoff race.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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As Yu Darvish continues rebuilding his arm strength from Tommy John surgery, the Texas Rangers will go with Cole Hamels as their Opening Day starter against the Seattle Mariners on April 4.

The Rangers officially announced Hamels as their No. 1 starter on Twitter on Wednesday. 

The 32-year-old Hamels was acquired by the Rangers last season on July 31 in a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. He posted a 3.66 ERA with 78 strikeouts in 83.2 innings after the move, helping Texas win its first American League West title since 2011. 

Hamels was the Rangers’ starting pitcher in their must-win game on the last day of the season, tossing a complete-game three-hitter in a 9-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels. He made two starts against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series, allowing four earned runs with 14 strikeouts and two walks in 13.1 innings. 

If Darvish were healthy, his resume and dominant stuff would likely have given him the edge over Hamels to start on Opening Day. He’s being carefully managed by the team, throwing 31 pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday, and he won’t face live hitters until he’s able to throw between 50 and 55 pitches, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. 

Hamels is certainly no stranger to taking the ball for a season opener, previously getting the honor as a member of the Phillies in 2013 and 2015, per Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake. 

Blake also noted the Rangers have used seven different Opening Day starters in the last seven seasons. Hamels has proved himself to be one of the best and most consistent pitchers in Major League Baseball.

Hamels may no longer be the Cy Young Award contender from his peak days in Philadelphia, but his evolution as a pitcher to keep hitters off balance before setting them up with his devastating changeup will keep him playing at a high level for a long time. 

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Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher C.J. Wilson is preparing for the 2016 season with some new mechanics after running into injury issues last year.

On Saturday, Wilson spoke with Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register about the changes in his motion on the mound.

“I looked at the video and said, ‘This isn’t right,’” he said. “I have to scuttle the whole thing and start over again. [I] recreated a new delivery that is different, with a different arm slot and everything. So I throw completely different now than I did last year. I won’t even look like the same pitcher.”

Angels manager Mike Scioscia said the changes are minor, but they will help Wilson stay comfortable on the mound.

Wilson decided to cut his 2015 season short in August because of an elbow injury that plagued him for most of the year. His decision was met with skepticism by his teammates, who believed that Wilson should have pitched through the injury, per MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez.

Not only did the injury require surgery, but Wilson also told Fletcher that he hurt his shoulder while pitching through it. The shoulder pain flared up in spring training and forced the change in mechanics, as it would have affected his velocity.

“Once I got to the point where I was throwing max effort, then it started breaking down again, so I had to go back to the drawing board and start throwing differently,” he said.

When healthy, Wilson could be a serviceable starter in Los Angeles. He won 17 games in 2013 before winning just 13 and eight in the following two seasons.

If his new mechanics help him regain that kind of success, though, he can be a solid option alongside Garrett Richards and Jered Weaver.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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If all the prospect reports and estimated times of arrival had been right, we wouldn’t be asking whether Taijuan Walker can step up to be a legitimate “2” to Felix Hernandez’s “1” atop the Seattle Mariners starting rotation.

We wouldn’t be asking, because it already would have happened, the way it happened for all those New York Mets starters. They stepped in, and they stepped up, seemingly without a glitch, and the Mets found themselves in the World Series.

The Mariners, for yet another year, did not. And with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays all making it to October, the Mariners now own the longest postseason drought in the game (14 years).

And Taijuan Walker can still be the guy who ends it. This year.

He still has all that talent that got him ranked ahead of guys like Chris Archer and Noah Syndergaard on those long-ago prospect lists. He’s only 23, and he’s coming off a pretty good half-season of success in 2015.

He could “shoot the moon” this year, as new Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said in his introductory press conference last September.

“He’s the type of talent who could make huge strides in performance at any point,” Dipoto said this week in a follow-up text to Bleacher Report. “But for now, we’re quite satisfied with simply viewing him as one of our guys, no more, no less.”

The Mariners actually entered spring training with the public stance that Walker had to compete for a job, that he was one of three pitchers for the final two rotation spots. Even now, while it’s clear he will be there, Bob Dutton of the News Tribune believes the Mariners will start him fourth behind Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and Wade Miley.

Really, though, Walker is the guy who could push the Mariners to something special.

He’s part of the reason Dipoto didn’t believe the M’s needed a total overhaul, why the new GM kept together the core that includes Hernandez as well as Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz. With Cano and Cruz in the middle of the order, and Hernandez and Walker atop the rotation, it’s not that hard to see the Mariners contending in the American League West.

It’s not that hard to see Walker as a guy who can help make it happen, based on the stuff that earned those high prospect rankings and the results that show he went 10-3 with a 3.62 ERA over his final 20 starts in 2015 (with supporting numbers to match). The Mariners can even see his ugly first two months as a positive because a young pitcher learned to figure things out without needing a trip back to Triple-A.

His results so far this spring have been so-so, including a Monday start in which he allowed four runs in 3.1 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But it’s worth remembering Zack Greinke allowed three runs in 3.2 innings in the same game, and in another split-squad game on the same day, Hernandez gave up three runs in 2.1 innings.

It’s also worth remembering Walker had a spectacular spring in 2015, with a 0.67 ERA and a .114 opponents’ batting average. That performance no doubt had people suggesting the same thing we’re suggesting here: Walker could join King Felix and bring the Mariners to the top.

It’s easy to see super-young pitching and predict greatness, but there are cautionary tales everywhere that prove it doesn’t always happen. The Mariners themselves thought they were building a super-rotation, back when Baseball America was ranking Walker and Danny Hultzen ahead of Archer, and James Paxton ahead of Marcus Stroman.

Hultzen got hurt. Paxton is 27 and still hasn’t spent a full season in the big leagues. Maurer was traded to the San Diego Padres for Seth Smith.

Walker remains as the big hope.

He’s still young enough and talented enough, and the run of good starts last year felt like a possible breakthrough. As manager Scott Servais said in a tweet from Larry Stone of the Seattle Times:

Yes, it is fun to watch him pitch. It’ll be even more fun for Servais and the Mariners if Walker pitches them to October.

It could happen. This year.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver is recovering from a spine injury but expects to be ready for the regular season.

Continue for updates.

Weaver Declares Himself Ready to Pitch

Tuesday, March 15

“I’ll be ready to take the ball in the (expletive) opening series,” Weaver said, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. Fletcher provided more from Weaver:

It’s just a mild case. We thought maybe it had something to do with what’s going on, but [Dr. Robert Watkins] didn’t think it translated (to pitching) or anything like that. Obviously, he’s an expert on the situation. Just keep grinding.

I wish they would tell me I need surgery or something. As bad as that sounds, an answer would be great. But it’s not the way it’s happening. I have to keep grinding with what I’m doing.

Angels general manager Billy Eppler noted on March 12 that surgery was not an option, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

Weaver also stated he will pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday, per Fletcher.

Weaver Struggling to Shake Injury Bug

Weaver had a lackluster 2015 campaign that was mired by back issues, and the team placed him on the 15-day disabled list May 30 because of those back problems.

Prior to going 7-12 with a 4.64 ERA last year, Weaver had been one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 2012, he went 20-5 while posting a 2.81 ERA.

If Weaver misses time again this season, it would be a major blow to an Angels team that needs better production on the mound. Garrett Richards was L.A.’s winningest pitcher last year at 15-12, followed by Hector Santiago at 9-9.

Although last year was one of the worst seasons of his career, a healthy Weaver would give the Angels a better chance to compete in the American League West next season.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Houston Astros and manager A.J. Hinch reached an agreement this week on a new contract. 

Brian McTaggart of MLB.com passed along confirmation about the new deal from Hinch. Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reported the signing is “believed to have guaranteed money through at least 2018,” but the details weren’t officially announced.

Drellich also included comments from Astros owner Jim Crane from earlier in spring training:

A.J.’s a bright guy. He delivers a great message in the locker room. … He’s got a lot of experience. I think you saw that come through with the way he pulled the guys together. I think there was an expectation of A.J. that he and Jeff get along extremely well. That makes things very fluid for the whole time, so you know the chemistry’s there with the front office. He handles the players extremely well, and they respect him, and that’s what you want.

Star second baseman Jose Altuve provided a simpler explanation to the Houston Chronicle: “He’s the right manager for the right team.”

Hinch also commented on the extension, per Drellich:

The Astros are one of the league’s most promising teams, and they started to showcase that potential last season. They reached the playoffs for the first time since 2005 during Hinch’s first season in charge after posting a 86-76 record during the regular season.

Houston edged the New York Yankees in the Wild Card Round before losing to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals in the ALDS.

Altuve, 25, is joined by the likes of shortstop Carlos Correa, 21, outfielder George Springer, 26, and pitchers Dallas Keuchel, 28, Collin McHugh, 28, and Lance McCullers, 22, to give the team a potent core of under-30 contributors.

There’s more talent on the way, too. Baseball America rated the Astros second in its 2016 Organization Talent Rankings, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers. So the organization is set up for long-term success.

Being able to handle all of that young talent and putting them in positions to succeed will be a tough task over the next handful of years. Clearly, the Houston front office saw enough encouraging signs in 2015 to ensure Hinch stays in place as the franchise builds toward a championship run.

The former MLB catcher didn’t enjoy nearly as much success during a prior stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks, going 89-123 across parts of two seasons. In turn, there’s still pressure on him over the next few years to show he can make a positive impact on a budding roster.

The often-painful rebuilding process is over in Houston, and now, expectations are rapidly beginning to rise. The onus is on Hinch to make sure the Astros reach those goals, which will include winning a championship in the near future.

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Los Angeles Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson returned to spring training Friday and resumed throwing as he continues his recovery from left elbow surgery and battles through some left shoulder tendinitis.

Continue for updates. 

Wilson “Looking Iffy” for Opening Day

Friday, March 4

According to the Orange Country Register‘s Jeff Fletcher, Wilson was able to throw, but he has yet to progress to the point where he’s throwing off a mound. 

Wilson underwent season-ending surgery to remove bone spurs in his left (throwing) elbow last August, and recent tests revealed left shoulder tendinitis. 

But based on the potential outcomes the MRI could have produced, the Angels were not concerned with the diagnosis. 

“We were very pleased with the results,” Angels general manager Billy Eppler said, per Fletcher. 

So even if Wilson doesn’t return in time for Opening Day, the way the team has publicly discussed the minor setback is reason to believe the southpaw shouldn’t be on the shelf for long.

After racking up at least 200 innings pitched in four straight seasons between 2010 and 2013, Wilson failed to reach that benchmark during the 2014 and 2015 campaigns. 

But if there’s a time for him to rebound, 2016 would appear to be it. 

The 35-year-old is in the final year of his contract with the Angels, per Spotrac, and a solid showing throughout 2016 could allow him to reap the rewards of one more long-term deal before he calls it quits. 

The velocity on Wilson’s fastball has dropped each of the past three seasons, per FanGraphs, but if he can touch somewhere in the range of 91-92 mph on the radar gun while effectively mixing in his curveball and changeup, he could piece together a nice resurgent season. 

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