Mining the News (2/5/25)

American League

Angels

• Tim Anderson spent his time off fixing some bad habits with his swing and regaining his confidence.

Anderson said things started to change after a leg injury he sustained early in the 2023 season with the White Sox. He took time off to retool his mechanics and clear his head and believes he’s now in a better place.

“I started creating bad habits with my swing,” Anderson said. “I had that injury to the leg, so once I came back, I lost the feel, I lost the touch, I lost a lot. Everything felt different. So, it caused me to start doing the wrong things and start creating that bad habit. I got caught up in that bad habit and that became a norm. That’s what caused the frustration. So, once I got released, I got in the lab and I’ve been training to break that bad habit.”

Anderson admitted it was tough mentally and that he lost confidence, but it was important for him to take time away from the game to get everything back in order. He never seriously pondered retirement, though he felt discouraged and frustrated because of his struggles.

Mariners

• The General Manager has confidence in Jorge Polanco’s health and hopes he can stay on the field by playing third base.

Dipoto also addressed a few injury situations. He expressed confidence in Polanco’s health after the veteran infielder played through a left knee injury that eventually required a meniscus repair. The Mariners believe the move from his longtime second base position to third base will take less of a toll on him physically.

Orioles

• Jorge Mateo might not be ready for the start of the season.

Mateo underwent surgery on his dislocated elbow in August. He avoided an arbitration hearing but isn’t assured of being ready for Opening Day.

“He’s doing well from his recovery,” Elias said. “You’ll see him in spring training. He’s not going to be a hundred percent citizen of spring training, but he’ll be ramping up and we’ll be able to address whether or not he’s going to break for exact Opening Day a little bit later.

“It’s possible, but not ready to sort of make that forecast right now. But he’s doing really well. Everyone that’s had a surgery, their medical recoveries are going very smoothly, knock on wood.”

• Félix Bautista will be slowly ramped up during Spring Training.

Félix Bautista isn’t a full-go at the start of camp, but he’s also progressing.

Bautista underwent ligament-reconstructive surgery in his elbow in October 2023. He’s throwing bullpens but won’t experience a normal spring training from the start.

“There’s going to be a ramp involved that is reflective of the fact that he’s coming off Tommy John, so maybe a different, slower ramp,” Elias said. “We’re going to be careful with him and if it needs to be a slow ramp, if he needs extra time, whatever he needs, we’re going to be prioritizing that rather than bum-rushing him to get him out there. But he’s doing very well.”

• The team will use a five-man rotation.

An expanded rotation still isn’t likely to happen until maybe later in the summer.

The Orioles aren’t concerned about Sugano adapting to a five-man rotation after pitching in Japan. They aren’t worried about the 41-year-old Morton handling a normal workload.

“The plan right now is to do five and they’re ready for that. Everybody is ready for that and on board with it,” Elias said.

“I think I said earlier, as we get into camp, if things start presenting themselves where it makes more sense to do a six, then we’ll be open to that. It’s not a decision we need to make until really close to Opening Day, like last couple of weeks of spring training I would think. But if you look at our schedule in April and May, there’s a lot of off-days, so I don’t know if it would be sensible to do a six-man if you don’t to, and right now we feel like we don’t have to. We’d rather have the extra bullpen guy.”

• The plans are for Gary Sánchez to start against lefties.

While Rutschman is the Orioles’ regular catcher, McCann started 54 games in 2023 and 63 last season. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said he expects Sánchez to play often

“I think he’s going to be a full-blown No. 2 catcher,” he said. “He’s also a really good hitter for a catcher, especially against left-handed pitching. I imagine we’ll see him DHing some games if he’s not catching. I expect him to be a huge part of the team.”

Here are splits on the two catchers.

Name: vs LHP, vs RHP
Rutschman: .818, .755
Sánchez: .787, .766

Not much for splits either way. It just seems that when Sanchez starts, it will be against lefties.

• Jackson Holliday has been doing “running stuff” to steal more bases.

“I’m definitely as strong as I’ve ever been,” Holliday said. “Been doing running stuff … trying to make that a priority, to be able to steal bases and really impact the game in multiple different ways.”

Rangers

• Adolis García’s has progressed past his late-season injuries and for the first time is working with the team during the offseason to clean up his swing.

There’s one other thing to point to when talking about García’s 2024 season. He, much like the Rangers in their title defense, limped toward the finish line with a left patella tendon strain. He was examined early this offseason by Dr. Daniel Cooper in Dallas and mostly had a normal progression after eight weeks of rehab.
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But both García and president of baseball operations Chris Young said they didn’t believe health had anything to do with García’s struggles throughout the year. But that being said, everybody believes García is in a better place right now than this time last year.

“Players go through good years and bad years,” Young said. “Some of that’s related to the training and the physical state of where they are in the offseason, and how they come into the season and if your body’s not allowing you to do some things that maybe you’re accustomed to doing. But he’s in a great spot now. He’s worked so hard, and I’m really, really excited for him.”
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So for the first time in his Rangers tenure, he spent the offseason in the Metroplex and worked out at Globe Life Field.

“Yeah, I had a little bit of an extra movement in my swing,” García said. “That’s what I worked with the team and hitting coaches to try to eliminate these movements in the swing. … Last year, with the short offseason, there was less time to prepare. That kind of hurt a little bit, not making the playoffs, but this year I’ve had plenty more time to work on things. I feel better prepared. I’m ready to go, and it looks great.”

Rays

• Ha-Seong Kim 김하성 will not be ready by Opening Day.

Kim, 29, provided an encouraging update regarding his recovery from surgery to repair a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder. He said he is “feeling great” and has started to hit and throw.

Initial estimates put Kim in line to return around May. But he wouldn’t put a timeline on his return, saying only that he is “grinding really hard to get back on the field as soon as possible.”

“As talented as he is, he’s also a lot of fun to watch — an incredibly entertaining player, as evidenced by his immense popularity in San Diego,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “So while he won’t be ready for Opening Day with us, the wait — hopefully — shouldn’t be too long before we get to enjoy him ourselves and, ideally, at a point where we’re off to a great start and are proving that we’re going to be in contention for a postseason opportunity and more.”

Royals

• Michael Massey, Jonathan India, and Maikel Garcia will get outfield reps this spring.

Versatility is going to be on display all spring for the Royals, who plan to have Jonathan India and Michael Massey get reps in left field, India get reps at third base and Maikel Garcia get reps in center field as a potential right-handed platoon option for Kyle Isbel, who is still seen as the everyday center fielder. But if Garcia can handle the outfield, that opens up third base for India.

White Sox

• Sean Burke added a sinker this offseason.

Maintaining good health is Burke’s primary key for a successful season. He comes in better prepared than ever, having studied gameplanning, scouting, looking at hitters and talking to other players about working consistently through the rigors of 162 games. He also added a two-seamer this offseason to his existing repertoire of four-seam, curve, changeup and slider.

Yankees

• DJ LeMahieu will get another shot to win the third base job.

Though the Yankees were connected to free agent Alex Bregman and Cardinals veteran Nolan Arenado at various points of the winter, Boone is preparing to give another opportunity to LeMahieu, who has been hindered by injuries the past several seasons and has two years remaining under contract with the club.

LeMahieu, 36, batted .204/.269/.259 with two homers and 26 RBIs in 67 games last season. His competition at third will be the utility man Cabrera — who turns 26 in March and has appeared at every position but catcher in the bigs — and the 24-year-old Peraza, a onetime top prospect who has yet to see his potential translate to Major League success.

“We’ll see what happens, but [LeMahieu is] someone that wants to be in a position to help us win a championship,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “That can come in my forms and fashions. I have no idea, it’s unpredictable. What is predictable is he’s a committed, talented athlete and I know his desire is to have a positive impact.”

National League

Dodgers

• To try to say healthy, Tyler Glasnow will not throw with as much extension.

Glasnow officially said he was diagnosed with elbow tendinitis last fall, though the issue cleared up in time for him to have a normal offseason. He’s already progressed to throwing bullpens in anticipation of the Dodgers’ early Opening Day in Tokyo in March.

“I feel as good as I’ve ever felt,” Glasnow said.

That, Glasnow said, has allowed him to work through some changes. The tweaks, encouraged at least in part by the Dodgers, center largely on how he leverages his massive 6-foot-8 frame down the mound and where he’s positioned when his front foot plants before he fires a pitch.

“When I land I used to be very extended, spine angle and stuff,” Glasnow said. “So I’ve been working with some people, trying to make some small changes. It’s hard to explain but once I throw I’ll feel you can probably see it.”

• Michael Conforto plans on being more consistent.

He’s showcased renewed health since, maintaining an average to slightly above-average offensive profile but not quite the All-Star production he had earlier in his career.

“First time around, I’m coming off the surgery,” Conforto said. “So there were some other things that I needed to know: That I was gonna play, that I was gonna be out there, that I was gonna be able to get my feet back under me.”

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“There were flashes of where I was in my All-Star seasons last year, but there were also some slumps in there,” Conforto said. “And so the hitting coaches were saying that they see some things that are there when I’m going good and when I’m not going good. They kind of have some ideas to keep me kind of in that consistent space.”

• Freddie Freeman hopes to be healthy by the opening series in Tokyo.

Freddie Freeman expects to be limited coming into Spring Training as he continues his rehab from right ankle surgery, but he believes he should be on track to play in the season-opening Tokyo Series.

The Dodgers’ star first baseman underwent a procedure consisting of debridement and the removal of loose bodies from his right ankle in early December. Freeman sprained his ankle on Sept. 25 and missed the last three games of the regular season, then played through the injury in the postseason.

Eight weeks after the procedure, he was able to hit for the first time. While Freeman thinks he’ll be ready to go as a hitter by the time Spring Training begins, he hasn’t been cleared to run yet.

• Miguel Rojas had an offseason setback but plans on being ready for Spring Training.

Couple Dodgers injury notes:

– Miguel Rojas dealt with an infection post-hernia surgery that delayed his rehab a couple weeks. But he’s still on track to be full go for spring.
– Emmet Sheehan has been throwing off a mound. Hoping to start rehab games in May/June.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) February 1, 2025

Shohei Ohtani should return to the starting rotation around May.

A clearer timeline will emerge once Ohtani starts throwing bullpen sessions during Spring Training. When asked if Ohtani could return to pitching in May, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that fluid projection “sounds about right.” A May return would mark roughly 21 months in between Major League pitches for Ohtani, whose last game as a pitcher came on August 23, 2023 when he was still a member of the Angels.

Giants

• Jerar Encarnacion is out of options, so he will get a chance to prove he belongs on the team this spring.

Encarnacion is out of options and can’t be sent to the Minors without being exposed to waivers, so the Giants should give him plenty of opportunities to stick in the corner outfield or at designated hitter this spring.

Mets

• Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña will be battling for the third base job.

Assuming Vientos mans first on a near-everyday basis, the Mets will have at least five players competing for time at third: Baty, Young, Luisangel Acuña, Ronny Mauricio and Luis De Los Santos. All five are on the 40-man roster, but Baty and Acuña would seem to hold an advantage given their youth and prospect pedigree. (Mauricio would typically fall into that camp as well, but a long recovery from multiple knee surgeries makes his situation more tenuous.)

This figures to be a true camp competition. Mets officials weren’t sure at the end of last season if the 22-year-old Acuña would be ready to help them, yet his performance subbing for Francisco Lindor in September, combined with his .914 OPS in the Venezuelan Winter League, turned heads. Baty, meanwhile, is running out of chances to prove he can be a bona fide big league regular. He was once every bit the prospect that Acuña is now. Keep an eye on how both fare in Grapefruit League play.

Padres

• Xander Bogaerts will move back to shortstop this season.

Xander Bogaerts’ new position is his old position: He’s returning to shortstop in 2025.

Manager Mike Shildt formally revealed that plan during his FanFest media availability on Saturday at Petco Park. The move had been largely expected, particularly in the wake of free agent Ha-Seong Kim’s decision to sign with Tampa Bay.

“Once it looked like Kimmy was not going to be able to come back … the way the team was getting built, it looked like it was an opportunity for Bogey to play short,” Shildt said. “So I had a great conversation with Bogey probably a month ago. He had already had his head around wanting [it] and training to go back and play shortstop. He was very enthusiastic about it.”

• According to his manager, Jake Cronenworth is the team’s second baseman.

The move also means Jake Cronenworth will serve as the Padres’ starting second baseman, Shildt said. Cronenworth has fluctuated between first and second base over the past few seasons (with his defensive value clearly higher at second).

“Not just for me, but for everybody, it gives us clarity for where we’re going to be and how we can prepare,” Cronenworth said. “It’s the same guys coming back. Maybe in a couple different spots, but we have a great infield.”

• Adrian Morejon will be used as a high-leverage bullpen option, not in the rotation.

The Padres remain in search of starting pitchers to round out the back of their rotation. Adrian Morejon will not be one of them. He’s simply too valuable in the bullpen, they say.

Coming off the best season of his career, Morejon again will be deployed as one of the team’s back-end weapons. Following Tanner Scott’s departure, Morejon projects as the team’s top left-handed reliever.

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“There are thoughts, and there are some guys we’re looking to stretch out,” Shildt said. “We’re still finalizing that with them. … But Adrian has found a really nice niche in the bullpen. It’s a spot where we think he’s going to not only do as well as he did last year, but take the next step.”