Avisail Garcia's comeback keeps hitting obstacles. After hitting the DL twice with hamstring strains, Garcia sat out the start of Monday's game due to "a little pressure in his chest and his heart beating a lttle fast."
"It was like two days like that and I was a little nervous," Garcia said. "That's why I went to the hospital to get checked out because I have a family. I was a little scared.
"Maybe it's normal because [of the] the pills that I've been taking for my hammy. But I was scared, so that's why we went to the hospital."
He came back to replace Daniel Palka in the outfield and cleanup spot, which will hopefully be the case going forward. Palka is 11-for-57 with 27 strikeouts over 59 PA this month, or 5-for-46 against teams that aren't the Royals. Besides, there's room at DH with Matt Davidson posting similar numbers.
Spare Parts
The timing of last year's promotions -- after trades were made, and at the start of a homestand -- might offer some clues for when Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech might arrive.
If the White Sox want to capitalize on “the next guy’s debut” – and Jiménez’s arrival looks like their best shot at creating a similar moment in 2018 — perhaps a West Coast swing full of 9 p.m. start times and hopeless print deadlines falls short of the most favorable time to roll out the player everybody has most wanted to see.
While the trade for James Shields was still a large mistake, the effects of it won't be felt at the MLB level in 2018. He fractured his thumb sliding into second on a stolen-base attempt last week, and surgery will knock him out for the rest of the year, although he could resurface in either the Arizona Fall League or winter ball.
If I were a TV producer, I'd stop with the camera work and commentary that demands adults to give balls to little kids in the same camera shot. Often times the adults in the case are bad actors, but it risks singling out an ordinary paying customer for unjustified scorn.
Ken Rosenthal uses a potential Rays-Padres trade involving Chris Archer as a jumping off point with a larger question -- when the teams involved neither immediately need nor immediately have to deal the player, when is it the right time?
This would be enough bad news for a month. For the Mets, they all this over the course of several days.
Thanks to Josh, Greg, Patrick and Ted for filling in while I was on vacation.
