DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander will miss much of the upcoming season with a shoulder injury, manager John Schneider announced Tuesday at spring training.
Schneider said Santander will have labrum surgery on his left shoulder Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined for five to six months.
It's another disappointing turn for Santander, who had 44 homers and 102 RBIs with Baltimore in 2024. He signed a $92.5 million, five-year contract in free agency to join the Blue Jays last offseason, but struggled badly at the plate and played in just 54 games during an injury-plagued Toronto debut.
“Kind of had a setback when he started ramping up with his hitting earlier in January and came over to the complex, got checked out, and we kind of did everything we could to avoid this,” Schneider said.
There was more bad news for the Blue Jays on Tuesday: Right-hander Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, has forearm fatigue and won’t be ready for opening day.
Schneider said the team is being extra cautious with Bieber and expects him to be a major contributor this season.
Bieber was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery when he was acquired from Cleveland at the July 31 trade deadline last year. He made his season debut Aug. 22 and pitched 40 1/3 innings for Toronto during the regular season, going 4-2 with a 3.57 ERA in seven starts. But he threw 18 2/3 innings in the postseason with a 3.86 ERA and helped the Blue Jays come within one win of a World Series championship.
“In talking to him and talking with our medical team, just decided that the best possible outcome would be this," Schneider said. “Slow play it a little after going through what he went through in the postseason and the World Series.”
Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis will miss the entire season after undergoing UCL reconstruction surgery Wednesday.
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FILE - Toronto Blue Jays' Anthony Santander connects for a two-run RBI single against the New York Yankees during the third inning of Game 3 of baseball's American League Division Series, Oct. 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The early Bird had to circle Yankee Stadium.
Jake Bird arrived at 8:15 a.m. Friday, more than five hours before the start of his first game in pinstripes. The gate where New York Yankees players usually enter wasn't yet open and he was told to enter from the other side of the ballpark, at Gate 6.
“I just walked around,” the relief pitcher said. "It was a nice foggy morning.”
Eight months after the Yankees acquired him from Colorado, Bird pitched in the Bronx for the first time Friday. He struck out two in a perfect seventh inning of an 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins in New York's home opener.
Bird credited Natalie Girard for recommending he account for possibly congested streets when he called for Uber pickup at his Manhattan hotel.
“My girlfriend is really familiar with New York, so she was kind of telling me, `Hey, there might be traffic in the morning, so you should get there early,'” Bird recalled. “Also, I didn’t really know where to enter the stadium and stuff and I’ve been in that spot before where I kind of got lost, so just it didn’t hurt to get here a little early and kind of familiarize myself with the place.”
Hours later, he entered with a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning. Bird retired Otto Lopez on a flyout, threw a called third strike past Owen Caissie and struck out Connor Norby.
Bird pumped both arms and screamed.
“He had a little emotional release after getting that third out,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He was, again, really sharp, man, and went right through the middle of their order. Right, left, left was efficient.”
Bird was dealt by the Rockies for a pair of prospects last July 31, made three relief appearances on the road, the last in Texas ending with Josh Jung's three-run, walk-off homer, and was sent to Triple-A for the rest of the season.
“I know last year it didn’t really work out the way he wanted,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said, “He’s a guy that wants to be here. He wants to be great and I think after going through last year he knows the expectations now and he’s ready to go.”
Bird has allowed one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings in four games this season, striking out five and walking none.
“I’m just trying to stay closed and not fly open,” he said. “I know my slider and my breaking balls have been really good and fastball is a weak point at times, so just trying to build on the breaking balls as a strength and trying to improve the fastball, as well.”
An economics major at UCLA, Bird was taken by the Rockies on the fifth round of the 2018 amateur draft and made his big league debut in 2022. He has a 4.68 ERA with 221 strikeouts in 236 2/3 innings.
“Opening day is amazing," he said, “experience it here for the first time was really cool.”
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New York Yankees' pitcher Jake Bird walks back to dugout during the sixth inning of a home-opener baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Friday, April 3, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
