Guerrero is coping with proper knee discomfort after leaving a Spring Training recreation Friday in Dunedin, Fla., and whereas an MRI later that night time revealed no structural injury to the knee, there’s some minor irritation that the Blue Jays wish to deal with fastidiously.
“He’s just doing treatment today and staying off of his feet,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider previous to Saturday’s recreation in Lakeland. “We’re just hoping that’s the best thing for him right now.”
Guerrero’s harm occurred whereas working the bases, although it wasn’t blatant on the time. With Bo Bichette on second base within the first inning of Friday’s recreation, Guerrero bounced a single again up the center that scored Bichette on a detailed play on the plate. As that throw went house, Guerrero rounded first and ran for second, however he appeared to take some awkward steps and seemed uncomfortable as he jogged into the bag.
The Blue Jays will know extra within the coming days, however since Guerrero was scheduled to go away for Miami on Sunday to hitch his teammates with the Dominican Republic, it was essential to decide quickly.
“It was an awkward move yesterday, so at this stage in camp we’re being ultra cautious,” Schneider mentioned. “He felt a little bit better today than he did yesterday, so we’re just taking it one day at a time.”
Guerrero joins catcher Alejandro Kirk (Mexico) and reliever Jordan Romano (Italy) in withdrawing from the Classic, with Kirk being the newest after he was away from camp for the beginning of his first youngster.
The preliminary fear with Guerrero, after all, is that this harm may very well be one thing that stretches past the realm of day-to-day. The Blue Jays are nonetheless within the analysis course of and are optimistic they’ve averted something extra severe, but when the membership does want cowl at first base for any period of time, it’ll have a few in-house choices.
Brandon Belt was introduced in primarily to DH, however he’s an possibility at first base when he completes his personal ramp-up in camp. Belt is working the bases at present, and he might get into recreation motion by subsequent week, however the Blue Jays will not be speeding their new veteran, who doubtless solely wants 25-to-30 plate appearances in camp.
Cavan Biggio also can play some first base to go together with his flexibility between the infield and outfield, and on a roster as versatile as Toronto’s, that may not create a obvious gap elsewhere. The hope stays, although, that Guerrero will be capable to return to baseball actions quickly after taking these precautions.
