Report: The Rangers could get Shin-Soo Choo back for the ALDS - MLB

Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo has been out since mid-August with a fractured left forearm. He had a plate surgically inserted into his forearm shortly thereafter and was expected to miss the rest of the regular season. That’s still true, but the Rangers are hopeful Choo can return in time for the start of the ALDS, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan reports.

The Rangers entered Monday’s action with an 88-62 record, 8.5 games ahead of the Mariners for first place in the AL West. It would take a monumental collapse in the season’s two and a half weeks for the Rangers’ preemptive ALDS planning to become moot.

Carlos Gomez joined the club shortly after Choo’s injury and he’s done an admirable job. In 90 plate appearances with the Rangers, Gomez is hitting .244/.344/.513 with six home runs and 16 RBI. If Choo does return, the Rangers would likely play the matchups with the right-handed Gomez and the left-handed Choo.

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The Yankees placed Nestor Cortes on the 15-day injured list with a left rotator cuff strain that will sideline the left-hander for at least two starts.

The move is retroactive to Monday and Cortes will be shut down for at least 15 days.

After Tuesday’s game, Cortes said the shoulder has been bothering him between starts and more so after he pitched five innings May 30 in Seattle.

“I took two days off and when I got to LA and threw that first day, I didn’t feel right,” Cortes said Tuesday. “But it was first day coming back from pitching so I knew it was going to be nagging a little bit. So I waited a little bit.

“That second day in LA was when I said something because it felt like I had pitched yesterday. So I wasn’t recovering in time.”

Cortes is 5-2 with a 5.16 ERA in 11 starts and has particularly struggled later in outings. Opponents are hitting .447 when facing him for the third time in a game.

Last year, Cortes was an All-Star and went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

Randy Vásquez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to take Cortes’ spot in the rotation and will make his second career start in Thursday’s doubleheader. Vásquez made his major league debut May 26 against San Diego when the Yankees needed a starter because Domingo Germán was serving a 10-game suspension for using sticky substances.