Mike Trout on his calf strain: ‘I’m really crushed about it’

There’s no way around the fact that Tuesday’s news of a right calf strain that will sideline Mike Trout for 6-8 weeks was a gut punch to the Los Angeles Angels season. Though both manager Joe Maddon and Trout tried to see the bright side.

From J.P. Hoornstra at the Orange County Register:

“I went down the tunnel, made sure it wasn’t my Achilles,” Trout said. “If there’s any positive to come out of it, it wasn’t my Achilles, because that’s what scared me when it first happened.”

But despite the silver lining, the news is still very much a bummer.

As Trout said, per Joe Reedy of Associated Press, “It is not just a little bump in the road. I mean, I’m really crushed about it.”

Taylor Ward started in center field on Tuesday night. Ward and Juan Lagares will see some time in center for now, with Jo Adell and Brandon Marsh still percolating in Triple-A Salt Lake for now.

From Joe Maddon, per Daniel Guerrero at MLB.com: “Anything could change,” he said. “Anybody’s welcome to put themselves in a position to be considered. Absolutely. That’s the whole purpose. That’s it, It’s just gonna be based on performance.”

Jay back and forth

The Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday announced that outfielder Jon Jay, who was designated for assignment on Friday, cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake.

This is the second time Jay has been called up, then sent outright to Triple-A this season, continuing his hokey pokey with the 40-man roster. In five games with the Angels this season, including three starts in left field, Jay is 5-for-14 (.357).

The 36-year-old Jay spent the first six seasons of his career with the Cardinals, but in the last six years has played with six different teams — the Padres, Cubs, Royals, Diamondbacks, White Sox, and now Angels.

Links

• A look at the acquisition of Hunter Strickland and how he’ll try to stabilize the Angels bullpen, from Dan Szymborski at FanGraphs.
• How much is changing the baseball actually changing the baseball, wonders Bradford Doolittle at ESPN.