Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager resumed swinging a bat during the road trip as he makes his way back from a broken bone in his right hand. For now, the plan remains the same, including more batting practice this weekend, but manager Dave Roberts mentioned a target date on Friday.
“Right now, he’s still just taking swings. Batting practice, grounders, doing everything he can,” Roberts said. “Our expectation is still for him to be back in that Giants series.”
The Dodgers resume play after the All-Star break at Coors Field in Colorado next weekend before returning home to host the Giants at Dodger Stadium from July 19-22.
This Saturday marks eight weeks since Seager was hit by a pitch on the right hand against the Marlins. Considering how long he’s been out, it’s reasonable to assume he would need some sort of rehab assignment before he is activated. That means Seager could play for a minor league affiliate by the middle of next week.
If the timetable is a little longer than that, the Dodgers also play the Giants for three games in San Francisco on July 27-29, so Roberts could still technically be right even if Seager takes an extra week.
Links
- Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic looked back at the Dodgers first-round picks of the six previous MLB drafts under Andrew Friedman and Billy Gasparino.
- Giants catcher Buster Posey, the starting catcher for the National League All-Star team, was placed on the 10-day injured list with a thumb contusion on Friday — Kerry Crowley at the San Jose Mercury News has more info — and will miss the midsummer classic. That could conceivably open a spot on the All-Star roster for the Dodgers’ Will Smith, though that will be determined in the next day or two.
- Notable from Tyler Kepner’s New York Times interview with Dave Parker and Al Oliver is this factoid about Mookie Betts: “The absence of the Black American player will be stark at Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Denver. Of the 32 All-Stars named to the original N.L. roster, only one is Black — Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Betts was also the only Black player among the 55 who participated in World Series last fall between the Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays.”
- Mark Walter and Todd Boehly, co-owners of the Dodgers, finalized their purchase of 27 percent of the Lakers on Friday, Randall Williams at Sportico reports. The NBA board of governors approved the sale on July 2.
- Speaking of billionaires, Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott, and Ellis Simani at ProPublica reported this week on how professional sports team owners use their teams to avoid millions in taxes, through the U.S. tax code.
- In Joe Sheehan’s subscription newsletter, he opines on the growing number of transactions on a daily basis. “Roster churn and the use of relief pitchers is one of the worst things about baseball today,” he wrote.