Connect with us

Published

on

ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer was scratched from his second scheduled rehab start Tuesday because of thumb soreness.

The soreness is similar to what Scherzer experienced last year before being sidelined for the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs for the World Series champion Rangers.

Scherzer is rehabbing from surgery in mid-December to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, and he said that isn’t giving him any issues.

“I’m frustrated. You want to be out there pitching. I’ve put myself in a position to get back out there,” Scherzer said. “Coming off the back surgery, I’ve jumped through every hoop and really been putting myself in position to help the team out sooner than anybody thought. And the reason I’m not going out there is a thumb injury.”

Texas manager Bruce Bochy classified it as a “minor setback” for the three-time Cy Young Award winner.

“You’re talking days, not weeks,” Bochy said.

The 39-year-old Scherzer had been scheduled to start for Double-A Frisco at Corpus Christi on Tuesday night. That was six days after the eight-time All-Star threw 52 pitches into the third inning of his first rehab start for Triple-A Round Rock.

Scherzer said the inside ligament on his right thumb bothered him some in a simulated game before that, but he was able to manage in the start for Round Rock. Things changed in the past few days while preparing to start another game.

“Coming out of the bullpen, it was just going to get worse. And then it was starting to leak into the forearm. The forearm was starting to get tight on me,” Scherzer said. “Just need a couple days to let everything breathe, get everything back underneath me. There’s nothing really structurally wrong. It’s just some discomfort and just need to let it subside so nothing bad happens.”

The Rangers acquired Scherzer from the Mets in a deadline trade last July after the pitcher agreed to opt in on the final year of his contract for this season at $43.3 million. New York is paying $30.83 million of that to Texas in twice-monthly installments.

After the trade, Scherzer was 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts for the Rangers, the last in the regular season Sept. 12 before being sidelined by a muscle strain in his shoulder. He returned to make two starts in the American League Championship Series, then Game 3 of the World Series before exiting after three innings because of his back.

Scherzer said Tuesday he had some thumb soreness in the regular season last year that became forearm tightness and led to the shoulder issue.

“That was the progression last year, and this was starting to mimic it,” Scherzer said.

As for the rehab of his back and how it was recovering, Scherzer said he had the kind of velocity he would have in spring training in the start for Round Rock. He said it was a normal ramp-up in an effort to get back into the Rangers’ rotation.

His 3,367 career strikeouts are the most among active pitchers, and he is second on the active list with 214 wins and 448 games started.

“We’ll let this thing clear up a little,” Bochy said. “You have to expect these things, especially when a guy’s coming back from a pretty good layoff. The good news is it’s not his back. His thumb’s a little sore, and that will clear up.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

Published

on

By

Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.

Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.

The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.

Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.

Continue Reading

Sports

Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

Published

on

By

Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he had been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties — seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, as officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

“I have no idea,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with its style of play. “I’m not worried about it. Training camp is over. We had some good games … and no one was complaining about ice time by the end of it, so it’s over.”

Florida had 17 power-play chances in the game, by the NHL’s count.

“It got silly. It got stupid by the end of it,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It wasn’t really hockey out there.”

The parade to the penalty boxes started about two minutes into the game when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin — who was among six players the Lightning called up for the game — went after Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. Sabourin got a major penalty after playing 19 seconds.

“It made you think there might be something coming,” Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen said, when asked what he thought when he saw the Lightning called up players for the game.

What would have been the eighth Florida goal of the night, midway through the third period, was taken away 15 minutes after Jesper Boqvist scored. Off-ice officials realized that Mikkola couldn’t have had an assist on the play — since he had been ejected earlier in the period.

The teams skated with the scoreboard saying Florida led 8-0 for about five minutes of actual game time before officials informed both teams that the goal had been taken away and Mikkola had to leave the game.

The Lightning took nine penalties and had no shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday’s game came two nights after the teams combined for 49 penalties and 186 minutes in another preseason contest, one the Lightning won 5-2.

Tampa Bay went to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020 through 2022, winning two titles in that span. Florida has been to each of the past three Stanley Cup Finals and has won the past two Cups. And there has long been a heated rivalry between the franchises.

“I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A, not be surprised and B, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

Published

on

By

Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.

Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.

The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.

Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.

Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.

The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.

Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.

Continue Reading

Trending