Under The Knife 3/25/24

The Final Countdown

One thing I want to point out is the oft-overlooked “search” function on Substack. If you go to the archive - and subscribers get full access to the four full seasons of UTK in this format - there’s a magnifying glass icon at the top right. That search function isn’t bad. Put in a name and you’ll get all the times that I’ve mentioned a player. More complex searches aren’t great, but I am trying to use all of UTK that I have rights to as an LLM. Very early days and it’s currently stupid and terrible, but it shows some promise. Regardless, what we have now can often be of use and many don’t seem aware of it, so … pointed out, let’s get to the injuries:

COREY SEAGER, SS TEX (strained core)

Corey Seager hasn’t exactly been slow-playing his return from a “core muscle injury”, but the fact that he hasn’t had to do most of the camp things doesn’t seem to bother him or anyone around the Rangers. After January surgery to repair the injury, Seager’s come along fine, well enough to play over the weekend and show no issues. He moved well in the field, had two hits, and with many watching closely, showed no sign that he has any lingering issues. This is commonly a six week injury and this shows that the surgery was likely a “line in the sand” and that he’s back almost perfectly.

The other key here is a continued story from around the league: rust is dead. While Neil Young might still say it never sleeps, knocking it off is much easier given the tools athletes have now, like better pitching machine, wide access to video, and some rehab techniques that are becoming not just quicker, but better. Having Seager ready just as expected is another note that absent the ticket sales, there’s no reason that spring training is as long as it is or that it’s the best way to do things.

Seager is expected to start on Opening Day and most days for the Rangers as they defend their title. He’s not Marcus Semien, who really does go 162, but Seager may get more days off early just to make sure there’s no issue with his legs or latent fatigue. Sebastian Walcott is at least a couple years off, despite impressing many this spring, and while there’s not a ton of upper level depth in the Rangers organization, no one seems uncomfortable with what they have.

Subscribers will get notes on Jackson Holliday (not injured), Kyle Bradish (who is), Mike Trout’s continued struggles, and more.