AL East Round Up: Everybody Hurts Edition

“Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
Everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes”- REM

Welcome to this week’s AL East Round Up. Before I begin, I will apologize for putting that song in your head. It’ll be there for a while.

This past week saw a number of players getting banged up, heading to DL, and in the case of one AL East pitcher, showing the signs of his body and age coming together to wreak havoc on his knee. Perhaps injuries are playing the biggest role in why this division remains so close.

Despite everyone saying it can’t last, all 5 teams are staying within striking distance of winning the division. It is going to make for exciting baseball all year if it continues.

Standings:

Baltimore Orioles- 22-19
New York Yankees- 22-19
Toronto Blue Jays- 23-21 (0.5GB)
Boston Red Sox- 20-22 (2.5 GB)
Tampa Bay Rays- 19-25 (4.5 GB)

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Baltimore Orioles

Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com tells us that Matt Wieters is on the DL due to issues with his elbow. What’s worse is that the team is not really sure just how long he’ll be out. They have seen Dr James Andrews and decided he doesn’t need surgery. But, they also leave room for the idea that if he doesn’t heal soon, surgery may be a very real possibility. If that is the case, he won’t be back until next season. Yikes! That does not help my fantasy team…at all.

The Orioles did get some good news with the return of Chris Davis. The big lefty spent some time on the DL dealing with his oblique. He’s off to a bit of a slow start and will need to tear it up if he is going to match his 2013 numbers. The O’s have already lost Manny Machado at the beginning of the season. With injuries to the players they depend on most, the Orioles will have a difficult time pulling away from the pack.

A Celebratory Brett Lawrie High Five to Chris Tillman who pitched his first career shutout on Friday against the Kansas City Royals.

In another hopeful reclamation project (see Johan Santana) the O’s have signed Heath Bell to a minor league deal. While Santana is attempting to come back from injuries, Bell is attempting to come back from…not being effective.

This table shows just why the Tampa Bay Rays released him. Good luck, Baltimore. According to Robert Falkoff at MLB.com, Bell is still being paid by the Marlins, Rays and Diamondbacks. Showalter’s response to the signing? “He has to pass the physical.” Oh, snap!

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

New York Yankees

Carlos Beltran is heading to the DL with bone spurs in his elbow. According to Bryan Hoch at MLB.com the Yankees are hoping to avoid surgery for Beltran. If they can, his DL stint would be much shorter. But, if it doesn’t heal soon, they’ll have to consider operating, which would put him out for 6-8 weeks. The aging right fielder was hitting .234 with 5 HR and 15 RBI.

Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

CC Sabathia is having issues with his knee. Bryan Hoch tells us that Sabathia went to see Dr James Andrews and it turns out his knee has “degenerative changes”. His knee is degenerating! He currently is on the 15 day DL. He had fluid drained from the knee that had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in 2010. He will receive cortisone injections and stem cell treatment. Could it be that age and his body are coming together to reach a critical point in Sabathia’s career?

MLB Network breaks down his injury:

These two injuries cannot be good news for the Yankees with Michael Pineda being on the DL since May 6 and possibly not returning until June. According to Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com, Pineda threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session and his back feels good. That might be some good news, but for right now, the Yankees are getting more banged up, not less. Ichiro Suzuki has been dealing with a sore back as well. Mark Teixeira did not start the series against the Mets on Monday. Bryan Hoch tells us that he needed to rest his legs. He came in the game in the 9th as a pinch hitter, singled and was lifted for a runner. Hoch says that Tex has been nursing his left groin. He did come back to hit a homerun on Saturday. But, yeah…injuries abound.

On another note, Derek Jeter‘s farewell tour continued in New York as the Mets bid him adieu. Their gift was kind of cool. They presented him with a piece of a subway #2. Get it? A piece of the subway…New York vs New York…subway series….sigh. They also presented a donation of $22,222.22 to Jeter’s Foundation. His presser after was just as classy and gracious as you would expect.

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays

Colby Rasmus ended up going on the DL to deal with his tighty righty hamstring. To replace him, the Blue Jays called up Anthony Gose, who is more than capable of filling in CF. But, he does not bring the potential production Rasmus does. He’ll need to figure out how to get on base and use his speed to help the club. Otherwise, this team will be hurting.

The Jays have already lost Brandon Morrow after he tore a tendon sheath in his right index finger. Despite this, so far, the Blue Jays have been able to weather a few bumps and bruises and stay well within striking distance of first place. They haven’t been completely decimated by injuries, like the Rays. At least not yet.

Dustin McGowan suffered a ‘hurt’ in a different way this week. It was announced Thursday that McGowan would be heading back to the bullpen. It looks as though starting is taking too much of a toll on the young diabetic. He’ll come out of the pen and work fewer innings at a time. This probably comes as a bit of a gut punch to McGowan who worked so hard to be a starter. Gregor Chisholm at MLB.com tells us that the club might be looking to Liam Hendricks to fill the 5th spot in the rotation. Stay tuned.

The Blue Jays roster has been like a revolving door this week. They’ve been shuffling players up and down from AAA Buffalo. There has been so much movement that they actually handcuff themselves sometimes. Some players cannot be recalled because they were just optioned days before.

Celebratory Brett Lawrie High Five to Drew Hutchison. #HutchShow threw a complete game, 3 hit shutout against the Texas Rangers on Friday night. It was the first shutout of his career.

Another Celebratory Brett Lawrie High Five to Edwin Encarnacion as he was awarded AL Player of the Week for last week. He hit 4 homeruns, one of which was his 200th career bomb. Long live the chicken wing!

I’m going to end the Blue Jays part with a shout out to the Jays Care Foundation. At MLB.com, Jamie Ross tells us that this week’s Blue Jays Broadcast Auction raised $256,235! Here is a list of the “big ticket” items that went for a pretty penny. Below is a video of fans taking part in the Roberto Alomar Home Run Challenge. Some dudes were dropping bombs!

Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox were not sure when Shane Victorino would return to the lineup, but they felt confident that he will not need to go to the DL according to Ian Brown of MLB.com.  After missing time already this season, Victorino tweaked his knee sliding against the Twins on Tuesday (video below). As luck would have it, Victorino was in the lineup Saturday night.

The same cannot be said for 3B Will Middlebrooks. At MLB.com, Tim Healey shares that Middlebrooks will hit the DL with a fractured index finger. He fractured it on Friday on a line drive by Ian Kinsler. Ouch!

The Red Sox are hurting in other ways:

–Dave Sessions (MLB.com) explains the Red Sox are a MLB worst in stolen base percentage. They sit LAST in the AL with just 11 stolen bases. This is a complete turn around from last year where they had 123 steals and only 19 caught.

-Offensively, the Red Sox are lacking . They are 12th in the AL in batting average (.245), 12th in HR (33) and 12th in hits (341). It’s going to be difficult to defend a championship if you don’t hit. The pitching has been reasonable, including the awesomeness of Jon Lester. But, it may not be enough if John Ferrell can’t get his team’s offensive struggles turned around.