Matt Kemp unlikely to be ready for Opening Day

By Craig CalcaterraJan 21, 2014, 4:10 PM EDT
15 Comments

Death, taxes, Matt Kemp suffering from ailments:

 

On the one hand, sure, an early start for the Dodgers due to the Australia trip and thus a short camp. On the other hand: when was the last time a veteran suffering from nagging ailments was actually ready to go when they say, well beforehand, they’d probably be ready to go? In light of history alone I’d be worried about that April 1 date.

Kemp underwent shoulder and ankle surgeries in October and is currently running and swinging at about 60 percent and “getting close” to feeling like himself. But as Gandhi famously said: Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

UPDATE: Conflicting reports on the Blue Jays calling up Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Getty Images
By Craig CalcaterraApr 19, 2019, 3:35 PM EDT
5 Comments

UPDATE: Welp, Hécto Gómez may not have this one right. Scott Mitchell of TSN is reporting that it’s “highly unlikely” Guerrero is recalled unless some sort of injury occurs, so I suppose we should all stand down.

Anyone up for keeping him down until the Super Two cutoff in June?

3:35 PM: Héctor Gómez‏, a baseball writer from the Dominican Republic, reports that The Blue Jays will call up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He will reportedly make his MLB’s debut on Tuesday. The Blue Jays have not confirmed this yet, but I’m sure we’ll hear sometime this weekend.

As we’ve noted over and over, Guerrero has nothing left to prove in the minors and has not had anything to prove there for some time. Guerrero is currently 7-for-17, with a line of .412/.500/.824 in five Triple-A games this year. In one he hit the ball clear the heck out of the stadium. This coming off a 2018 season in which he hit .381/.437/.636 with 20 home runs and 78 RBI in 408 minor league plate appearances.

A minor injury in spring training made Guerrero unavailable for Opening Day and gave the Jays cover to keep him down in the minors to start the season. With that Guerrero is ensured of not getting a full year’s worth of service time in 2019 and thus the Jays have obtained a full six years of control of him after this season. As such, there really is no baseball nor business reason to keep him down on the farm any longer.