N&N: Triston McKenzie could miss up to eight weeks with shoulder strain

Cleveland Guardians news and notes for Tuesday, March 28, 2023

If you snuggled into bed early last night, dreaming of your favorite baseball team’s five-man rotation heading into Opening Day, you might have missed some news that was dropped at around 9:30 p.m. ET night.

The Guardians revealed that Triston McKenzie could miss two months of baseball action with a strain in his right teres major muscle. He will be sidelined for two weeks and “may need up to eight weeks to return to play,” according to Mandy Bell.

Hunter Gaddis is the easiest option to use as the fifth starter, and he may need to start on Friday, which was McKenzie’s first scheduled start of 2023. He is reportedly stretched up to 70 pitches.

If there is one silver lining in this, it’s that McKenzie knew to say something at the first sign of pain and he was shut down quickly enough that things didn’t get worse. This will also provide the Guardians with another chance to test some of the other starters they saw last year who deserve a longer look— Konnor Pilkington, Xzavion Curry, Cody Morris, and the aforementioned Gaddis could all see a few extra innings as a result of this injury. None of that makes up for losing your true No. 2, perhaps future ace, in McKenzie, but the show must go on.

Guardians 6, Diamondbacks 7

Box Score
The Guardians’ penultimate spring training game was their 15th loss, and they’ll wrap up spring with another game against the Dbacks this afternoon. Aaron Civale looked excellent in his final preseason tune-up, striking out five and not allowing a hit in 4.2 innings. With McKenzie down for upwards of two months, the Guards are going to need more of that when the games count.

Today’s baseball: @ Diamondbacks, 3:40 p.m. ET

Cleveland Guardians news

‘Our expectations are to win’: Low-budget Cleveland Guardians not sneaking up on anyone in 2023 | USA Today
Bob Nightengale has picked the Guardians to win the World Series, so you can pretty much pack it in now — it’s over. Cursed. He does have a nice profile of the Guardians, particularly Terry Francona, here though.

Terry Francona talks Guardians, wardrobe, managing and favorite place to eat in Cleveland — Terry Pluto | Cleveland
More on Francona, who is going into a season with good health for the first time in a while.

“I have more energy than in the past,” said Francona. “I get up early in the morning and swim. There were times the last few years where I was present enough, but because I didn’t feel good – that leads to not doing the job the best you can. I want to do better.”

Top 20 players in Major League Baseball for 2023 | The Score
The Score has José Ramírez as the No. 6 player in baseball here, which I think is perfectly fair. My only issue is who they have in front of him.

Around the league

• Someone please teach MLB how weather works.
• Franmil Reyes officially made the Royals roster.
• Shohei Ohtani is going to make a lot of money.
• The Cubs signed Nico Hoerner to a three-year, $35 million extension.
• The world’s most thin-skinned umpire has arrived.
• Joey Votto will miss Opening Day for the first time since 2008.
• The Brewers brought back Luke Voit on a one-year deal.