ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Tampa Bay Rays star Evan Longoria sustained a left “hamstring-knee” injury early in Monday night’s game against Seattle but the club isn’t ready to place him on the disabled list.
Andrew Friedman, the team's executive vice president of baseball operations, told the media Tuesday morning following the introductory press conference of free agent-slugger Hideki Matsui that the first step will be to see how Longoria feels when he arrives for treatment later this afternoon.
“It’s really premature to say anything right now until we get a feel for how he feels today when he shows up,” Friedman said. “We’re not anticipating making a move today pre-game.”
The Rays’ third baseman and offensive catalyst, currently hitting .329 with four homers and 19 RBI, sustained the injury while attempting to steal second base in the third inning against the Mariners. He grabbed at the back of his left leg several steps from second base, where he was thrown out, and left the game moments later.
Friedman explained that any decision will be based on the Longoria’s improvement. If he shows signs of progress, “we probably won’t DL him. If there’s not improvement, and we feel confident that it will take 11, 12 or more days, then we probably will.
“He’s a guy who, if he’ll be out a week, we’ll just play short for that period of time. But it’s really premature to say anything right now.”
Friedman said Longoria has not had an MRI.
“We’re going to see how he feels when he comes and look at swelling and see where we are,” he said.
Friedman added that no decision has been made yet about who’ll fill in at third, though Sean Rodriguez, Jeff Keppinger and Elliot Johnson are all options for now. “We have different things we can do,” he said, “so we’ll see.”
Asked whether he had a gut feeling about what an MRI would reveal, Friedman refrained from any predictions.
"I don’t know — I mean, I’ve been so wrong with these so many times, where I felt positive and it was negative or I felt negative and it was positive,” he said. “So I learned to let the doctors do their job and see how he feels. He’s been a very good healer over time and he’s come back a little faster than we’ve anticipated in the past. So that factors in as well. But we’ll see what happens.”
